In January 2025, former NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell hid an arbitration ruling that contained a useful finding that the NFL had invited teams to collude as to the issue of guaranteed contracts.<\/p>\n
In April 2026, current NFLPA executive director JC Tretter handled the appeal decision<\/a> in the same case differently.<\/p>\n Tretter promptly informed the NFLPA\u2019s board of player representatives about the ruling. The message, a copy of which PFT has obtained, explains that the ruling on appeal (a loss for the union on the surface) affirmed the finding that \u201cthe NFL had encouraged and invited clubs to take steps to reduce salary guarantees and bonuses during a March team owners\u2019 meeting.\u201d <\/p>\n The message also includes the key line from the appeal ruling: \u201cWe cannot fathom these sophisticated businesspeople did not comprehend they were being encouraged to limit or reduce guaranteed contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n Tretter faced questions last year regarding the concealment of the original ruling, given that he was the NFLPA chief strategy officer at the time. He has since said that the ruling was also kept from him, and that he was \u201cmuzzled<\/a>\u201d by the union\u2019s lawyers when he wanted to set the record straight.<\/p>\n