Roquan Smith requested a trade away from the Bears on Aug. 9, 2022. Just a week later, he became the subject of further controversy.
On Monday, August 15, the Smith saga took a strange turn, as ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio reported that someone representing Smith was "calling other teams in order to gauge potential trade interest."
Of course, as Florio pointed out, there were a couple of problems with that:
It’s a problem for two reasons. First, the person isn’t an NFLPA-certified agent. He can’t represent Smith or any other player. Second, Smith has not received permission to seek a trade.
Basically, the person is setting up a potential tampering trap for any team that either engages in conversations regarding Smith or fails to promptly notify the Bears of the impermissible contact.
Florio's report raised some eyebrows along with one key question that had to have been bothering the NFL: Who was this mystery man representing Smith in trade discussions?
NFL fans now have their answer.
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According to ESPN's Courtney Cronin, the NFL notified in a memo to its 32 teams that Saint Omni was the person contacting them about Smith. The league explained that he was not certified by the NFLPA to do that.
Mr. Omni is prohibited from negotiating Player Contracts or discussing potential trades on behalf of any NFL player or prospective player or assisting in or advising with respect to such negotiations.
Who exactly is Saint Omni? Here's what we know about the man who was seeking to help Smith get traded.
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Who is Saint Omni?
Saint Omni was listed as the director of football at LifeLine Financial Group in a 2021 Complex article about Laremy Tunsil. The article had a publish date of Nov. 4, 2021 and stated that Omni had "helped Tunsil during his extension negotiations."
That lines up with what his Facebook page said about him. Omni listed himself as a "business consultant and manager for high profile NFL Athletes and celebrities" on his personal page, according to USA Today.
However, Omni's page had not been updated for two years at the time USA Today accessed it; it has since been deleted.
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LifeLine Financial Group describes itself as "wealth management for athletes, entertainers and world influencers" on its LinkedIn page. Strangely, LifeLine Financial Group's website leads only to a logo of the company superimposed over a photo of a man writing something with a child on either side of him.
There is no public record of Omni among LifeLine's listed employees on LinkedIn. The company confirmed he exists, per 670 The Score, but says "he's never in the same place twice."
.@ReyMDiaz -- who was just promoted to 670 lead investigative reporter -- is hunting down Roquan Smith pseudo-agent Saint Omni for an interview.
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) August 15, 2022
Omni's workplace confirms he exists but "he's never in the same place twice" and doesn't give out his cell.https://t.co/A4Y9VfM4QA pic.twitter.com/0mN63nvLOx
Certainly, information about Omni is scarce, and that contributed to the initial mystery surrounding Smith's unauthorized agent.
That said, Omni's name popped up again during the 2023 offseason when Tunsil signed a three-year extension worth $75 million. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported the details of the deal and attributed them to Omni.
Per Saint Omni, #Texans star LT Laremy Tunsil is once again the highest-paid tackle in NFL history, securing a 3-year deal worth $75M with $50M fully guaranteed and $60M in total guarantees. The blindside protector does a true reset on the market. Tunsil represented himself. pic.twitter.com/pEC68BRPSu
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 19, 2023
So, while Omni may be mysterious, he appears to be a part of the NFL world — though it remains unclear whether he is a certified agent or an advisor of some sort.
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The Sporting News will update information related to Smith and Omni as it becomes available.
