Days after the NFL Players Association’s executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned, the favorite to replace him is resigning as well.
Former Cleveland Browns center and NFLPA president JC Tretter told CBS Sports that he is resigning from the NFLPA, removing his name from candidacy for the now-vacant executive director position.
‘Over the last couple days, it has gotten very, very hard for my family. And that’s something I can’t deal with,’ Tretter told CBS Sports.
‘So, the short bullet points are: I have no interest in being [executive director]. I have no interest in being considered; I’ve let the executive committee know that. I’m also going to leave the NFLPA in the coming days because I don’t have anything left to give the organization.’
Tretter served as president of the NFLPA from 2020 to 2024 and resigns amid multiple scandals involving Howell and the players’ union.
Howell faced questions after the ‘Pablo Torre Finds Out’ podcast released a 61-page arbitration report showing the NFL encouraged owners ‘to reduce guarantees in future contracts with players at the March 2022 annual meeting.’
Howell, the head of the NFLPA at the time, reached a confidentiality agreement with the NFL that kept players and the public from knowing what was in the report.
Since his resignation, reports came out that Howell charged the NFLPA for multiple strip club visits.
The ‘Pablo Torre Finds Out’ podcast also reported another confidential deal between the NFL and the NFLPA on an investigation into fake injuries. Tretter’s comments during an interview in 2023 led to the investigation.
Tretter was considered a frontrunner to replace Howell in upcoming NFLPA executive director elections.
‘I’m not resigning because what I’ve been accused of is true,’ he told CBS Sports. ‘I’m not resigning in disgrace. I’m resigning because this has gone too far for me and my family, and I’ve sucked it up for six weeks. And I felt like I’ve been kind of left in the wind taking shots for the best of the organization.’
NFLPA chief player officer Don Davis is reportedly the other frontrunner and seems poised to take the position. Davis played linebacker for 11 years in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams and New England Patriots.
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