A massive controversy is unfolding. It has never been a secret that the relationship between the NFL and its players is often acrimonious. However, it appears things have reached the most serious level they have in decades. Last month, Pablo Torre and Mike Florio revealed that the league worked to cover up collusion between owners to prevent any players from receiving fully guaranteed contracts. This came after the disastrous Deshaun Watson deal in Cleveland. Since then, no team, including the Chicago Bears, has handed out such a contract.
To understand the extent, most of the league hasn't signed their 2nd round picks from the recent draft because agents want those deals to be fully guaranteed. Well, it turns out this fiasco goes way deeper. It turns out the collusion isn't limited to just the NFL. They may have gotten help from the Players Association. Don Van Natta Jr. and Kalyn Kahler dropped a column on ESPN that delivered multiple bombshells.
It started with the revelation that a deal was struck between the league and NFLPA head Lloyd Howell.
The NFL and senior leaders of the NFL Players Association struck an unusual confidentiality agreement that hid the details of an arbitration decision from players, including a finding that league executives had urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation, multiple sources told ESPN...
...The confidentiality agreement had kept details of the 61-page ruling a secret until two weeks ago, when the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast published the document and created a stir among union members. Some players told ESPN that they were surprised by details in the ruling and that they didn't understand why the union hadn't shared the ruling with them.
On Tuesday night, nearly six months after Droney's decision, the NFLPA, led by executive director Lloyd Howell Jr., decided to seek an appeal of the ruling, a senior union source told ESPN.
It gets better.
Howell might be an even bigger snake than people realize. The article revealed that players have already hired a lawyer to lead an inquiry into his activities. Since then, it has come to light that Howell also has a part-time job working with a private equity fund that is working to buy into NFL teams. All of this is a glaring indication that the man isn't working in the best interests of the players. He's trying to play both sides to his personal gain.
The union's decision to appeal a nearly 6-month-old decision comes at a time when Howell's leadership of the NFLPA has come under scrutiny on multiple fronts. Sources told ESPN that the union last month hired Ronald C. Machen of law firm Wilmer Hale to work with a special committee of players to review Howell's activities as the executive director. Machen declined to comment Wednesday.
According to sources, the Machen-led inquiry was triggered by ESPN reporting in May that the FBI and federal prosecutors are investigating the union's financial dealings related to a multibillion-dollar group-licensing firm, OneTeam Partners. The firm was co-founded in 2019 by the NFLPA and the Major League Baseball Players Association. Howell and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark are on the OneTeam board.
Chicago Bears players and others absolutely should be furious.
Based on all the evidence, Howell was actively working against their best interests. He reached an agreement with the NFL without informing them that he had forged a deal to prevent their ability to maximize the money they could earn. That is a horrendous level of betrayal and goes against everything the head of the NFLPA should stand for. Cole Kmet and T.J. Edwards are the Chicago Bears' two representatives on the board. Both had influence in sparking the inquiry to investigate Howell. One can imagine they've informed others in the locker room about how bad this is. The big question now is whether he loses his job, or more like how much longer he can hang onto it.
