{"id":5701,"date":"2025-07-13T02:52:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T02:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/5701\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T02:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T02:52:05","slug":"nflpa-proved-nfl-owners-colluded-but-why-are-they-burying-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/5701\/","title":{"rendered":"NFLPA proved NFL owners colluded, but why are they burying it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThat is a big finding,\u201d one former NFLPA employee said. \u201cEven though they didn\u2019t win, that is a factual finding. That is an important thing to tell players, that the NFL wanted to limit an important component of your compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get Starting Point<\/p>\n

A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n

So why is the NFLPA trying to bury it?<\/p>\n

Neither the NFL nor the union said anything publicly about the decision, which isn\u2019t uncommon. But the PA also kept the decision secret from its own players, which is highly unusual.<\/p>\n

When independent journalist Pablo Torre published the 61-page decision on June 24<\/a>, it was the first time most players, agents and employees inside the PA heard the details beyond, \u201cthe NFL won and the NFLPA lost.\u201d According to an ESPN report this past week, the PA struck an \u201cunusual\u201d confidentiality agreement with the NFL to keep the decision away from all but the seniormost lawyers and leadership at the union. <\/a> And when executive director Lloyd Howell briefed the executive committee \u2014 a group of 11 players headed by NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin \u2014 about the decision, he didn\u2019t share details or a copy of the decision, and blamed previous executive director DeMaurice Smith for wasting the union\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

The former NFLPA employee said it would be highly unusual for the PA not to provide details to the executive committee, nor for the result of the arbitration to be withheld in internal memos.<\/p>\n

The NFLPA ultimately appealed Droney\u2019s decision on Tuesday, but that it happened six months later, and on the eve of the release of ESPN\u2019s report, makes it look more PR than an honest fight. The NFL responded by demanding $12 million in legal fees from the union.<\/p>\n

\"WhatWhat is the NFLPA up to?Sean Gardner\/Getty<\/p>\n

The collusion case centered around quarterbacks Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, and Kyler Murray, who were unable to secure fully guaranteed contracts after Watson got a $230 million whopper from the Browns in 2022. Droney decided that just because the owners were encouraged by the NFL didn\u2019t necessarily prove there was collusion \u2014 technically, some owners weren\u2019t present at the presentation, some were barely paying attention, and some didn\u2019t need to be told to limit guarantees in player contracts.<\/p>\n

But the union did prove a level of collusion, and it\u2019s bizarre Howell would keep that information away from all players, particularly its top leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hear something like this, assuming this is the full universe of information, it is a horrendously bad look for the union, which has been under fire for a long time for often times being too cozy to ownership,\u201d said Miami-based attorney Brad Sohn, who has represented numerous players in litigation against the NFL and was a candidate for the EC job in 2023. \u201cThere absolutely could be a valid reason for keeping it out of the public eye. We haven\u2019t heard one yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howell has not commented publicly since Torre published the decision last month, and he may be benefiting from a quiet time in the sports calendar when many fans and journalists aren\u2019t paying attention. But the storm is building quickly around Howell, who replaced Smith as executive director in June 2023.<\/p>\n

Per ESPN, the NFLPA last month hired the law firm Wilmer Hale to work with a special committee of players to review Howell\u2019s activities since joining the union. ESPN also reported this past week that Howell secretly has kept a consulting job with The Carlyle Group, a private equity fund that was recently approved by the NFL to buy any ownership stakes. It represents a significant conflict of interest for Howell, whose No. 1 priority is supposed to be protecting NFL players.<\/p>\n

Howell was an unusual choice for executive director to begin with \u2014 an outsider from the world of business consulting who was quietly and suspiciously elected by a small cadre of PA insiders two summers ago.<\/p>\n

Now with the questionable moves adding up \u2014 there also was a $7 million lawsuit for breach of contract with Panini, and currently an FBI investigation involving the NFLPA\u2019s dealings with group licensing firm, OneTeam Partners \u2014 and a petition emerged on Thursday seeking to remove Howell from his post. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLloyd Howell has demonstrated a pattern of poor judgment, financial mismanagement, and conflicts of interest that have cost the NFLPA millions of dollars and compromised the union\u2019s ability to effectively represent NFL players,\u201d the petition said.<\/p>\n

The petition means little, since Howell can only be removed by a two-thirds vote of team player reps. But momentum is quickly building against Howell, and it wouldn\u2019t be shocking if the NFLPA had new leadership before long.<\/p>\n

Dolphins dysfunction<\/p>\n

Leadership called into question<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Dolphins are looking dysfunctional.Jim Rassol\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier were given a reprieve by ownership for last year\u2019s 8-9 record, likely because the Dolphins had to play six games without starting QB Tua Tagovailoa after he suffered a concussion.<\/p>\n

But the Dolphins may regret running it back in 2025 instead of making a hard reset. The franchise is a mess right now.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins owe $51 million this year to a quarterback (Tagovailoa) who isn\u2019t very good and can\u2019t seem to avoid concussions. They have a star receiver in Tyreek Hill who has been nothing but a headache the past two years and may still want to be traded. They had to trade cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Steelers because he no longer wanted to play for the Dolphins less than a year after they gave him a huge contract extension. They also traded productive tight end Jonnu Smith to the Steelers instead of giving him a pay raise. The Dolphins got five-time Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in return, but the Steelers clearly believe his best days are behind him.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins\u2019 plan to replace Smith\u2019s 884 yards and eight touchdowns was to trade for previously-retired Darren Waller, which reeks of desperation. Waller hasn\u2019t cracked 700 yards or four touchdowns since 2020, and he was out of football last year.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins aren\u2019t making friends in free agency, either. They had been talking to four-year cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., and his father, the former Patriots cornerback, ripped the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re sensitive. There\u2019s no leadership in the Dolphins organization,\u201d Samuel Sr. said last week. \u201cMike McDaniel is a pushover. Chris Grier, the GM, has no backbone. They\u2019re running this team like a little league team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dolphins hired the laid-back McDaniel in 2022 as an antidote to the uptight Brian Flores. But McDaniel doesn\u2019t seem to have much respect in the locker room, with his players giving lip service last season instead of buying in.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we were lying, honestly,\u201d pass rusher Bradley Chubb said. \u201cWe put our toe in the water, but we didn\u2019t dive all the way in. We didn\u2019t get all the way there with each other. We weren\u2019t making the effort to go the extra mile.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDaniel enters 2025 with perhaps the hottest seat of any head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been awesome if he would have told me on the front end when they were lying,\u201d McDaniel quipped. \u201cBeyond that, 2024, unless I\u2019m using it directly for an analogy, I\u2019m much more concerned with 2025. I don\u2019t even \u2014 what year did you speak of? I guess I\u2019ll read about that in history books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Passing attempts<\/p>\n

\u2018Quarterback\u2019 series has some insight<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Burrow is one of the stars of the latest season of Netflix’s “Quarterback” series.Matt Freed\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

The Netflix series \u201cQuarterback\u201d returned last week after a one-year break, with cameras following Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins, and Jared Goff behind the scenes throughout the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m three episodes in, and while the series does have a decent amount of fluff to wade through, there are many insightful and entertaining moments: Watching Burrow learn the piano; hearing Goff retain and recite play calls; and seeing Cousins struggle with a new playbook in Atlanta and the large amount of pre-snap motion. Cousins, who also appeared on the first season of \u201cQuarterback,\u201d seems to know exactly what the audience wants, using the show to promote some of his quirks, like his love of Celine Dion and his devotion to Great Clips.<\/p>\n

But most poignant about the series so far is the raw emotion it unearthed from Goff and Cousins about switching teams. Goff is entering his fifth season with the Lions, has become a folk hero in Detroit, makes $53 million per year, and is married to a swimsuit model. Yet Goff still hasn\u2019t gotten over the Rams trading him before the 2021 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me, ultimately, it was the fact that there was not a conversation had and there wasn\u2019t like a, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re thinking of moving on\u2019 type of thing. There was nothing,\u201d Goff said on the show. \u201cYou wish that it wasn\u2019t such a blind side, and you wish that there was some sort of maturity, I guess, to have that conversation and to be able to let me know what\u2019s going on and how things went down and why this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cousins, meanwhile, is clearly ticked (in his \u201caw shucks\u201d way) at the Falcons for drafting Michael Penix with the No. 8 pick last year, less than two months after the Falcons lured Cousins away from Minnesota. Cousins got $100 million fully guaranteed, so don\u2019t feel sorry for him. But he definitely didn\u2019t expect the Falcons to draft a quarterback at No. 8, and would rather still be in Minnesota instead of benched after 14 games in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like I had been a little bit misled, or certainly if I had had the information around free agency, it would have affected my decision,\u201d Cousins said. \u201cI had no reason to leave Minnesota, as much as we loved it there, if both teams were drafting a quarterback high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dome time<\/p>\n

Browns in line for new stadium<\/p>\n

The Browns\u2019 wish for a domed stadium and mixed-use development in the suburbs seemed like pure fantasy when the team released renderings in 2024. But credit owner Jimmy Haslam for advancing the ball into the red zone, with the potential for a touchdown coming real soon.<\/p>\n

The Browns have the plot of land \u2014 in Brook Park, near the Cleveland airport. They have the funds \u2014 $600 million in unclaimed state funds that were recently earmarked in the state budget (though a lawsuit is challenging the legality of the appropriation of the funds). And the Browns have the will power \u2014 Ohio lawmakers recently adjusted the state\u2019s \u201cModell Law\u201d to allow the Browns to move outside the Cleveland city limits as long as it\u2019s within the state.<\/p>\n

Now it seems a matter of when, not if, the Browns will announce their new domed stadium to open in 2029. Cleveland\u2019s mayor, Justin Bibb, acknowledged that reality by stating that the Browns should help pay for the tear down of their current stadium on the downtown lakefront.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my hope that the Haslams and the business community will support this administration and the city to demolish the stadium to ensure we have a transformation of the lakefront,\u201d Bibb said, via the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.<\/p>\n

Bad news Bucs<\/p>\n

Wirfs may miss first four games<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Buccaneers will start the season without All-Pro tackle Tristan Wirfs.Peter Joneleit\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

All news is bad news in July, and that was certainly the case last week for the Buccaneers and left tackle Tristan Wirfs.<\/p>\n

Wirfs, a three-time All-Pro in five seasons, had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this past week to clean up an injury that cost him one game in 2024. But doctors found additional damage during the surgery, per the Tampa Bay Times, and Wirfs is likely to start the season on the physically unable to perform list, which will cost him at least the first four games of the regular season.<\/p>\n

Wirfs has missed just five games in five seasons, and was first-team All-Pro in 2024. Tampa Bay signed Charlie Heck in March as the swing tackle, but instead he will be Baker Mayfield\u2019s blind-side protector while Wirfs is out.<\/p>\n

Training camp starts in a little more than a week, and 30 of the 32 second-round picks from April\u2019s draft still haven\u2019t signed their rookie contracts. The holdup was created by the two players who did sign \u2014 Browns LB Carson Schwesinger, the 33rd pick, and Texans WR Jayden Higgins, the 34th pick, as both received full guarantees on their entire four-year contracts, unprecedented for second-round picks. Fully guaranteed rookie contracts used to be only for first-rounders, and it seems no other team wants to cross that threshold. All eyes are on Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori, the 35th pick. \u2026 Chiefs guard Trey Smith, the only player with a franchise tag, has until Tuesday to sign a long-term deal or he has to play the 2025 season on his tag number of $23.402 million \u2026 Did you know: The Patriots haven\u2019t had a 1,200-yard receiver since 2012, when Wes Welker went for 1,354 yards. The Patriots also are the only team without a 1,000-yard receiver over the last five seasons. The high mark is 866 yards by Jakobi Meyers in 2021 \u2026 Eli Manning wanted to buy a small sliver of the Giants, but told CNBC, \u201cIt\u2019s too expensive for me. A 1 percent stake of something valued at $10 billion, it turns into a very big number.\u201d It seems the Giants have no interest in giving Manning the \u201cTom Brady discount\u201d that got him in with the Raiders at pennies on the dollar \u2026 The book launch party for former NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith is Aug. 4, the same day Smith and the players ratified the CBA in 2011, ending the lockout \u2026 Because of a production error, the Eagles aren\u2019t getting their Super Bowl rings until July 18, four days before camp \u2026 Patriots rookie tackles Will Campbell (first round) and Marcus Bryant (seventh round) were among the 215 attendees this past week trading secrets at the OL Masterminds forum at Cosm Dallas, run by Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson. \u2026 Former Ravens and Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley announced his retirement last month after 11 seasons. Mosley\u2019s going to stay in football, but is taking a slightly different path. He already launched his own player agency, Legacy Trust Sports Group. \u201cCoaching was never my path, but guiding, mentoring, and doing the right thing has always been in my DNA,\u201d said Mosley, a five-time All-Pro.<\/p>\n

Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThat is a big finding,\u201d one former NFLPA employee said. \u201cEven though they didn\u2019t win, that is a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[6096,6097,293,6101,6104,308,6098,6102,6099,349,688,1079,99,6100,6103,24],"class_list":["post-5701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-american-football-sport","tag-asking","tag-color-image","tag-executive-director","tag-gulf-coast-states","tag-horizontal","tag-louisiana","tag-national-football-league-players-association","tag-new-orleans","tag-nfl","tag-photography","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-the-media","tag-us-state-of-the-union-address","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}