The NFL Gamers Affiliation’s govt committee, in a message despatched to membership, expressed its help for govt director Lloyd Howell Jr. and denied it requested him to resign because it seems to be into points reported by ESPN final week.
“As members of the NFLPA Government Committee, we categorically reject false stories insinuating doubts inside this committee or solutions that now we have requested our Government Director to step down. We additional reject makes an attempt to mischaracterize the committee’s views or divide our membership,” the chief committee stated within the assertion obtained by ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday.
“Now we have established a deliberate course of to rigorously assess the problems which have been raised and won’t interact in a rush to judgement. We imagine in and stay dedicated to working with our Government Director and different members of NFLPA employees and participant management who’ve a shared mission to advance the perfect pursuits of gamers. As we method the 2025 season, we stay up for persevering with our necessary work collectively and making certain the power and unity of our affiliation.”
Final week, ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Kalyn Kahler reported that Howell is working as a paid, part-time advisor for The Carlyle Group, one among a choose group of league-approved personal fairness companies now searching for minority possession in NFL franchises. A supply with data of the scenario informed ESPN a union lawyer requested Howell to think about resigning from the personal fairness agency to keep away from the looks of a battle of curiosity if the agency takes an possession stake in an NFL franchise, however Howell declined to step away from Carlyle.
Nonetheless, a supply accustomed to the matter informed ESPN that Howell remembers solely that considerations have been raised by “a union worker,” and he stated he would “do his due diligence” earlier than making a choice.
Van Natta and Kahler additionally reported, by way of sources, on the bizarre confidentiality settlement that hid the small print of a Jan. 14 arbitration resolution from gamers, together with a discovering that league executives had urged staff house owners to scale back assured participant compensation.
Arbiter Christopher Droney dominated that there wasn’t enough proof of collusion by house owners in contract negotiations with quarterbacks after the Cleveland Browns gave Deshaun Watson a file $230 million absolutely assured contract in 2022. Although Droney didn’t award any damages and dismissed the NFLPA’s demand in its entirety, he discovered that the NFLPA confirmed, “by a transparent preponderance of the proof that concerted motion was contemplated and invited” by the NFL league workplace on the annual league assembly in March 2022.
ESPN reported that Howell briefed the gamers on the choice however didn’t element the findings or present copies. The confidentiality settlement saved the small print of Droney’s discovering from the gamers till the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast revealed the total arbiter’s report on June 24.
Final Tuesday, the NFLPA, led by Howell, determined to hunt an attraction of the ruling, a senior union supply informed ESPN’s Van Natta and Kahler.
“The attraction is a mirrored image of our obligation to implement the CBA and our dedication to defending our gamers’ pursuits,” the supply stated. “We’ll do what’s greatest for gamers, and we’ll exhaust our choices in doing so.”
Howell was elected because the NFLPA’s govt director in 2023, changing DeMaurice Smith, who had served within the function since 2009.