The NFL Player’s Association voted in new player rep officers this week. In the middle of the window to vote on the passing of the new CBA proposal from NFL owners, a new wave of representatives will steward the players executive committee, including new president J.C. Tretter of the Cleveland Browns. He replaced Eric Winston, who had been president since 2014 but was ineligible because he didn’t play in the league in 2019. In total, 11 new members were added to the committee.
It seems Tretter was elected due to his being moderate in the debate over whether the players as a whole should ratify the proposed bargaining agreement that was negotiated primarily by DeMaurice Smith, the NFLPA’s executive director. Smith, who worked on the current CBA as well, has been seen as the leader of sports least powerful union as the NFL shares the lowest amount of their revenue with its players compared to MLB and the NBA. The vote is largely seen as a referendum on his leadership. A passing will indicate most think he did the best for the players under the circumstances, a no vote saying he didn’t do enough.
A no vote will almost certainly result in a new executive director to move things forward in an effort to get a deal done prior to the 2021 season. That is when the current CBA expires and the first time the owners could lock the players out. An independent auditor has been tabulating the player’s votes and an announcement is expected sometime during Sunday morning. Before knowing his own fate, Smith decided to pen an open letter on his take on what he was able to accomplish in the negotiations, and released it via social media.
Smith paints the picture of what he thinks the CBA accomplishes and warns of potential economic downturns that might lead to less favorable deal options in the future, specifically invoking the current global pandemic that has halted sports games around the world.