Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned from his post as executive director of the NFL Players Association late Thursday night amid rising criticisms at the NFLPA and concerns about Howell\u2019s potential conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n
As executive director, Howell, 59, was tasked with protecting and advancing the interests of active NFL players. He was elected in 2023 to replace DeMaurice Smith, who had held the role since 2009.<\/p>\n
A graduate of Harvard Business School, Howell spent the bulk of his career climbing the ranks at Booz Allen Hamilton, a D.C.-based defense contractor and consulting firm with expertise in cybersecurity, engineering and espionage. He spent time there as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Like his predecessor Smith, Howell took the executive director role with no previous connection to the NFL.<\/p>\n
At the time, that background generated excitement within the NFLPA about Howell\u2019s potential to bridge the varied interests of membership in an uphill battle against ownership and the commissioner. Two years later, controversies led to Howell\u2019s abrupt departure before he was able to negotiate his first collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires in March 2031.<\/p>\n
Here is a timeline of Howell\u2019s tenure as executive director from his election to his resignation.<\/p>\n
June 28, 2023: The NFLPA elected Howell as executive director following a 16-month search that was criticized for its lack of transparency<\/a>. At least three former NFL players were considered for the role<\/a>, as reported by The Athletic \u2014 Matt Schaub, Domonique Foxworth and Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow Sr. \u2014 but Howell\u2019s hiring proved that on-field NFL experience was neither a requirement nor an emphasis. Howard became the NFLPA\u2019s fourth leader since the league\u2019s merger in 1970.<\/p>\n June 22, 2025: The Athletic reported<\/a> that an official inside the NFLPA raised concerns that union officials, including Howell, could potentially enrich themselves via OneTeam Partners, a company that licenses athletes\u2019 name, image and likeness rights.<\/p>\n Federal authorities are involved in an ongoing investigation into OneTeam Partners and union officials, as first reported by ESPN<\/a> on May 30.<\/p>\n June 24: The \u201cPablo Torre Finds Out\u201d podcast and Pro Football Talk published the findings of a 61-page arbitration ruling that investigated collusion by the NFL concerning guaranteed player contracts. In the decision, arbitrator Christopher Droney ruled there wasn\u2019t sufficient evidence of collusion, but details of the report included findings that league executives had urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation.<\/p>\n July 9: ESPN reported that the NFLPA had a confidentiality agreement with the NFL that hid information<\/a> in the aforementioned arbitration decision. Some players told the outlet they were surprised by the details of the ruling and unsure why the union kept it from them. An NFLPA source confirmed that Howell and the union plan to appeal the arbitration ruling.<\/p>\n July 10: Reports surfaced that Howell is also a paid, part-time consultant for The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that the NFL approved to pursue minority ownership stakes in franchises.<\/p>\n Howell joined The Carlyle Group in March 2023, three months before his election as NFLPA executive director. Two sources with knowledge of the NFLPA\u2019s selection and hiring process told The Athletic<\/a> that NFLPA leadership knew about Howell\u2019s work with the firm and the union\u2019s legal team and an independent search firm vetted Howell to ensure there were no conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n In August 2024, one year into Howell\u2019s tenure, the NFL approved private equity minority investors. Four sources with knowledge of the situation said that when it became apparent The Carlyle Group would have an opportunity to invest in the NFL, discussions took place about Howell\u2019s position with the firm. Legal teams for both the NFLPA and The Carlyle Group determined Howell\u2019s work with aerospace and defense was far enough removed from the side of the business that would work with the NFL that he wasn\u2019t at risk of a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n July 13:\u00a0The NFLPA executive committee sent a message in support of Howell to members<\/a>\u00a0and rejected reports that Howell had been asked to step down.<\/p>\n July 17:\u00a0A second arbitration ruling came to light, this one involving a grievance won by the NFL against the NFLPA over fake injuries. The original grievance, filed in 2023, stemmed from a comment made by former union president and current NFLPA chief strategy officer JC Tretter in which he suggested players could fake injuries as a contract-negotiation tactic. A decision was reached on Feb. 20 in which arbitrator Sidney Moreland determined Tretter\u2019s comments violated the CBA.<\/p>\n Additionally, ESPN reported inconsistencies<\/a> over players\u2019 knowledge of a sexual discrimination and retaliation lawsuit made against Howell while he was a senior executive at Booz Allen in 2011. Two player representatives who voted for Howell told ESPN they were surprised to learn about the lawsuit, while two other players who sat on the union\u2019s executive committee that vetted and chose Howell as a finalist said the existence of the lawsuit was shared with all player reps at the 2023 election meeting. The lawsuit was settled in July 2015 for an undisclosed sum, per ESPN.<\/p>\n Late in the evening, Howell announced his resignation<\/a> via a statement from the NFLPA.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day,\u201d Howell wrote. \u201c\u2026 I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season.\u201d<\/p>\n July 18: ESPN reported<\/a> that before Howell stepped down, an outside investigator hired by the NFLPA had received documents showing Howell had charged the union for expenses involving two visits to strip clubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Howell charged $738.82 for a car service from one visit in Florida in 2023, ESPN reported, citing a receipt it obtained. Howell and two union employees also visited a strip club in Atlanta during the PA\u2019s annual summit in February, according to the expense reports obtained by ESPN. That outing involved $2,426 in charges. A union spokesperson declined to comment to ESPN.<\/p>\n A source briefed on the procedure told The Athletic that the NFLPA executive board plans to meet in the coming days to discuss next steps and name an interim executive director, though the interim executive director is not expected to get the full-time job<\/a>.<\/p>\n (Photo: Sean Gardner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned from his post as executive director of the NFL Players Association late Thursday night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85,3276],"class_list":["post-5230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}