Latest news with #Droney
NBC Sports
24-07-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Bill Polian underscores the influence of the NFL's Management Council on player contracts
The truth often gets told when the topic has changed. In the 61-page collusion ruling, arbitrator Christopher Droney accepted the obvious, self-serving denials from owners and other NFL-aligned witnesses who insisted that the NFL's Management Council does not compel teams to act against their interests. In so doing, Droney ignored strong circumstantial evidence that teams did indeed accept the Management Council's encouragement to restrict fully-guaranteed contracts. In a new article from John Keim of regarding training-camp holdouts, Hall of Fame G.M. Bill Polian said something that undercuts one of the front-line arguments made by the league in defending against the claim that teams did indeed collude. 'You took so many slings and arrows publicly,' Polian told Keim regarding the holdout experience. 'Guys will call up and say, 'Hey, I really empathize with you. This is terrible.' Other people will offer advice: 'Hey, don't cave on this one. This is really important.' On occasion, [NFL] management council will step in.' Wait, what? 'Management Council will step in.' How? When? Most importantly, why? Why would Management Council have anything to say to a team that is holding the rope in a holdout situation? Why would Management Council care if the team blinks on one or more terms that could, in theory, become the start of a new trend? (Such as, you know, the player holding out wanting a fully-guaranteed contract?) Consider this sworn testimony from Giants co-owner and longtime chair of the Management Council's Executive Committee, John Mara, regarding the claim that Management Council doesn't tell teams what to do: 'I'm not going to be told what to do in terms of an individual player contract by anybody from Management Council or by anybody from another club. . . . [T]he thought that I'm going to be influenced by what another owner is saying to me is just absurd.' If that's absurd, it's equally absurd for Management Council to 'step in' during a holdout. And let's apply common sense here. Why would Management Council step in? Would it be to talk sense into a given team in an effort to get them to cave to the player's demands? Or would it be to 'encourage' (there's that word again) the team to remain firm and stand tall and not let a player or his agent score a term that will then be used in other negotiations for other players with other teams? Management Council exists in part to ensure coordination (i.e., collusion) when it comes to contractual trends. For instance, I've argued over the years that franchise quarterbacks should be paid not a set salary but a fixed percentage of the salary cap. The Collective Bargaining Agreement allows it. When asking around about it in the past, multiple sources from multiple teams said, essentially, 'Management Council would never allow it.' Management Council's influence is far stronger than the evidence fed to Droney would suggest. When Management Council 'encourages,' the teams ignore the urging at their own risk. Indeed, what happened after Management Council, sparked by the fully-guaranteed Deshaun Watson contract, encouraged teams to not fully guarantee deals? Kyler Murray didn't get one. Russell Wilson didn't get one. Lamar Jackson. That neutralized the threat. It also helped that Watson's contract has been a disaster for the Browns. The collusion case could still be a disaster for the NFL. The appeal is apparently happening, even though the NFLPA has suddenly decided to not respond to any questions from PFT, regarding the collusion case or any other topic.
USA Today
22-07-2025
- Business
- USA Today
NFLPA controversies: What to know about Lloyd Howell, JC Tretter resignations
The NFLPA isn't usually the subject of significant attention unless it is negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the NFL. However, in recent weeks, the labor union representing the NFL's players has found itself in the spotlight often thanks to a variety of scandals within its ranks. These controversies have caused the NFLPA's executive director, Lloyd Howell Jr., to resign just two years after taking over the role from DeMaurice Smith. JC Tretter, who served as the union's president from 2020 to 2024, is also set to step down from the organization as it undergoes a shake-up. Why is there so much turmoil within the NFLPA? Here's what to know about the recent controversies surrounding the labor union. NFLPA controversies, explained Several controversies have rocked the NFLPA in recent weeks. Below are the full details of the two most notable ones. In January, arbiter Christopher Droney ruled on a grievance filed by former NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith. The grievance alleged NFL teams had colluded to limit guaranteed money in deals to top quarterbacks after the Cleveland Browns signed Deshaun Watson to a fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million contract. Droney ruled that there was insufficient evidence of collusion by the NFL's owners. However, he stated in his decision that the NFLPA had clearly shown that Goodell and Pash had urged owners to keep guarantees lower at the March 2022 league meeting, which occurred just weeks after Watson inked his deal. Shortly after Droney's ruling, the NFL and NFLPA struck a confidentiality agreement to keep the findings secret. As a result, information about Droney's 61-page ruling did not become public until "Pablo Torre Finds Out" reported on it in June. The ruling included mentions of several quarterbacks and a series of text messages between Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell and Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos after Arizona signed quarterback Kyler Murray to a long-term extension. 'Congratulations on signing Murray," Spanos texted Bidwill. 'Thanks Deno! These QB deals are expensive but we limited the fully guaranteed money and have some pretty good language," Bidwill wrote back. "Thankfully, we have a QB that's worth paying.' 'Your deal helps us for our QB next year," Spanos texted. 'I think many teams will be happy with it once they have a chance to review. Cleveland really screwed things up, but I was resolved to keep the guaranteed [money] relatively 'low,'" Bidwill responded. None of the quarterbacks mentioned in the evidence – a group that included Murray, Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson – were made aware of what had happened because of the confidentiality agreement. LLOYD HOWELL: What's next for the NFLPA after stunning resignation? The NFL filed a grievance against the NFLPA in September 2023, which accused the union of encouraging players to fake injuries. The grievance stemmed from comments made by former NFLPA president JC Tretter, which implied faking injuries was a way for players to avoid fines during contract negotiation holdouts. "I think we've seen issues – now, I don't think anybody would say they were fake injuries, but we've seen players who didn't want to be where they currently are, have injuries that made them unable to practice and play, but you're not able to get fined, and you're not able to be punished for not reporting," Tretter said at the time. "So there are issues like that. I don't think I'm allowed to ever recommend that, at least publicly, but I think each player needs to find a way to build up leverage to try to get a fair deal. And that's really what all these guys are looking for, is to be compensated fairly." A non-injury grievance arbitrator ruled in favor of the NFL on Feb. 20, 2025. However, neither the NFL nor the NFLPA publicly disclosed this outcome in the immediate aftermath of the ruling. "The Arbitrator upheld the Management Council's grievance in its entirety and found that Mr. Tretter's statements violated the CBA by improperly encouraging players to fake injury," read a July statement given by the NFL to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. The statement also clarified the NFL did not allege any specific player faked an injury. Its main issue was with Tretter's comments being representative of the union condoning or encouraging that behavior, which the league alleged would violate an article in the two parties' collective bargaining agreement. Who is Lloyd Howell, and why did he resign? Howell is the former executive director of the NFLPA. He resigned amid scandal after further scrutiny was applied to his two-year tenure in the role. Howell wasn't only responsible for his role in suppressing the two rulings outlined above. It was also revealed he had expensed multiple strip club trips on the NFLPA's dime and had a part-time consulting gig at The Carlyle Group – a private equity firm that the NFL approved to seek minority ownership stakes in its teams – in addition to his job with the NFLPA. "It's clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day. For this reason, I have informed the NFLPA Executive Committee that I am stepping down as Executive Director of the NFLPA and Chairman of the Board of NFL Players effective immediately," Howell said in a statement. "I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season." OPINION: Former NFLPA head Lloyd Howell was sunk by his own secrets Why did JC Tretter resign? Tretter – an eight-year NFL veteran who played with the Green Bay Packers and Browns before serving as the NFLPA's president from 2020 to 2024 – resigned after scandals rocked the organization. "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." Initial reporting indicated Tretter had support as a potential executive director of the NFLPA. Instead, the labor union will have to search elsewhere for a replacement for Howell. Who will be the next head of the NFLPA? It isn't clear who will be the next head of the NFLPA. However, Tretter revealed in his interview with CBS Sports there had been a strong preference among the NFLPA executive committee for David White, the former SAG-AFTRA leader, when Howell was selected. Could the NFLPA executive committee target White after Howell's failed tenure? Only time will tell.
Boston Globe
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
The NFLPA actually proved in court NFL owners colluded. So why are they trying to bury it?
'That is a big finding,' one former NFLPA employee said. 'Even though they didn't 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.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up So why is the NFLPA trying to bury it? Advertisement Neither the NFL nor the union said anything publicly about the decision, which isn't uncommon. But the PA also kept the decision secret from its own players, which is highly unusual. Lloyd Howell briefed the executive committee — a group of 11 players headed by NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin — about the decision, he didn't share details or a copy of the decision, and blamed previous executive director DeMaurice Smith for wasting the union's money. Advertisement 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. The NFLPA ultimately appealed Droney's decision on Tuesday, but that it happened six months later, and on the eve of the release of ESPN's report, makes it look more PR than an honest fight. The NFL responded by demanding $12 million in legal fees from the union. What is the NFLPA up to? Sean Gardner/Getty 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't necessarily prove there was collusion — technically, some owners weren't present at the presentation, some were off in the back, and some didn't need to be told to limit guarantees in player contracts. But the union did prove a level of collusion, and it's bizarre Howell would keep that information away from all players, particularly its top leadership. 'When 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,' 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. 'There absolutely could be a valid reason for keeping it out of the public eye. We haven't heard one yet.' Advertisement 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't paying attention. But the storm is building quickly around Howell, who replaced Smith as executive director in June 2023. Per ESPN, the NFLPA last month hired the law firm Wilmer Hale to work with a special committee of players to review Howell's 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. Howell was an unusual choice for executive director to begin with — an outsider from the world of business consulting who was quietly and suspiciously elected by a small cadre of PA insiders two summers ago. Now with the questionable moves adding up — there also was a $7 million lawsuit for breach of contract with Panini, and currently an FBI investigation involving the NFLPA's dealings with group licensing firm, OneTeam Partners — Advertisement 'Lloyd 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's ability to effectively represent NFL players,' the petition said. 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't be shocking if the NFLPA had new leadership before long. Dolphins dysfunction Leadership called into question The Dolphins are looking dysfunctional. Jim Rassol/Associated Press Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel and GM Chris Grier were given a reprieve by ownership for last year's 8-9 record, likely because the Dolphins had to play six games without starting QB Tua Tagovailoa after he suffered a concussion. But the Dolphins may regret running it back in 2025 instead of making a hard reset. The franchise is a mess right now. The Dolphins owe $51 million this year to a quarterback (Tagovailoa) who isn't very good and can't 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. The Dolphins' plan to replace Smith's 884 yards and eight touchdowns was to trade for previously-retired Darren Waller , which reeks of desperation. Waller hasn't cracked 700 yards or four touchdowns since 2020, and he was out of football last year. Advertisement The Dolphins aren't 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. 'They're sensitive. There's no leadership in the Dolphins organization,' Samuel Sr. said last week. 'Mike McDaniel is a pushover. Chris Grier, the GM, has no backbone. They're running this team like a little league team.' The Dolphins hired the laid-back McDaniel in 2022 as an antidote to the uptight Brian Flores . But McDaniel doesn't seem to have much respect in the locker room, with his players giving lip service last season instead of buying in. 'Last year, we were lying, honestly,' pass rusher Bradley Chubb said. 'We put our toe in the water, but we didn't dive all the way in. We didn't get all the way there with each other. We weren't making the effort to go the extra mile.' McDaniel enters 2025 with perhaps the hottest seat of any head coach. 'It would have been awesome if he would have told me on the front end when they were lying,' McDaniel quipped. 'Beyond that, 2024, unless I'm using it directly for an analogy, I'm much more concerned with 2025. I don't even — what year did you speak of? I guess I'll read about that in history books.' Passing attempts 'Quarterback' series has some insight Joe Burrow is one of the stars of the latest season of Netflix's "Quarterback" series. Matt Freed/Associated Press The Netflix series 'Quarterback' 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. I'm 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 'Quarterback,' 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. Advertisement 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't gotten over the Rams trading him before the 2021 season. 'I think for me, ultimately, it was the fact that there was not a conversation had and there wasn't like a, 'Hey, we're thinking of moving on' type of thing. There was nothing,' Goff said on the show. 'You wish that it wasn't 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's going on and how things went down and why this is happening.' Cousins, meanwhile, is clearly ticked (in his 'aw shucks' 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't feel sorry for him. But he definitely didn't 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. 'It 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,' Cousins said. 'I had no reason to leave Minnesota, as much as we loved it there, if both teams were drafting a quarterback high.' Dome time Browns in line for new stadium The Browns' wish for a domed stadium and mixed-use development in the suburbs seemed like pure fantasy when the Browns 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. The Browns have the plot of land — in Brook Park, near the Cleveland airport. They have the funds — $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 — Ohio lawmakers recently adjusted the state's 'Modell Law' to allow the Browns to move outside the Cleveland city limits as long as it's within the state. Now it seems a matter of when, not if, the Browns will announce their new domed stadium to open in 2029. Cleveland's 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. 'It 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,' Bibb said, via the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Bad news Bucs Wirfs may miss first four games The Buccaneers will start the season without All-Pro tackle Tristan Wirfs. Peter Joneleit/Associated Press All news is bad news in July, and that was certainly the case last week for the Buccaneers and left tackle Tristan Wirfs . 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 St. Pete 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. Wirfs has missed just five games in five seasons, and was First Team All-Pro in 2024. The Bucs signed Charlie Heck in March as the swing tackle, but instead he will be Baker Mayfield's blind-side protector while Wirfs is out. Extra points Training camp starts in a little more than a week, and 30 of the 32 second-round picks from April's draft still haven't signed their rookie contracts. The holdup was created by the two players who did sign — 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. … 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 … Did you know: The Patriots haven't 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 … Eli Manning wanted to buy a small sliver of the Giants, but told CNBC, 'It's too expensive for me. A 1 percent stake of something valued at $10 billion, it turns into a very big number.' It seems the Giants have no interest in giving Manning the 'Tom Brady discount' that got him in with the Raiders at pennies on the dollar … 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 … Because of a production error, the Eagles aren't getting their Super Bowl rings until July 18, four days before camp … 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 . … Former Ravens and Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley announced his retirement last month after 11 seasons. Mosley's going to stay in football, but is taking a slightly different path. He already launched his own player agency, Legacy Trust Sports Group. 'Coaching was never my path, but guiding, mentoring and doing the right thing has always been in my DNA,' said Mosley, a five-time All-Pro. Ben Volin can be reached at
NBC Sports
24-06-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Why did the NFL and NFLPA hide the collusion ruling?
From the moment System Arbitrator Christopher Droney signed the bottom of a 61-page written decision in the landmark collusion case, both the NFL and the NFL Players Association kept it secret. The secret was finally exposed today, thanks to Pablo Torre. The next question becomes why both sides zipped their lips over Droney's decision? Torre and I delved into the subject during the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out. Although the NFL ultimately won, the NFL had every reason to keep the decision quiet. The case proved that the NFL tried to get its teams to collude. From the decision: 'There is little question that the NFL Management Council, with the blessing of the Commissioner, encouraged the 32 NFL Clubs to reduce guarantees in veterans' contracts at the March 2022 annual owners' meeting.' The NFL avoided what could have been multi-billion-dollar liability (more on that later) because Droney accepted the self-serving testimony of no fewer than eight owners that they didn't heed the Management Council's encouragement to collude. The document nevertheless includes more than enough evidence, in our view, on which a finding of actual collusion could have been based. The best metaphor (or at least the best one my relaxed brain can come up with) is this: The league was caught with its hand in the cookie jar and with crumbs on its shirt. But because Droney didn't actually see the league eating the cookies, he accepted as truthful their claim that they did not. Keeping it secret had another benefit, which also will be discussed later. By hiding it for more than five months, the NFL may have prevented other potential victims of collusion (starting with quarterbacks who since 2023 have not received fully-guaranteed contracts) from pursuing a grievance of their own. The far bigger question is why would the NFL Players Association not trumpet this ruling? The union should have been shouting it from the rooftops. They've finally proved that which had been suspected for years — that the quarterly meetings are (as former NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith calls them) 'collusion meetings.' The details are unprecedented, and the takeaway is unmistakable. With the Deshaun Watson contract lighting the fire for fully-guaranteed contracts, the league needed to put it out. Quickly. And the league (through the Management Council, with the blessing of the Commissioner) grabbed a hose and started spraying. Even though Droney ultimately failed to connect the dots and/or apply common sense (in my opinion), the union proved that the league WANTED the teams to collude. That's a massive finding. One reason to keep it secret deals with internal union politics. New executive director Lloyd Howell is viewed as a business person who can secure gains through negotiation, not litigation. Smith, who filed the collusion grievance, was the wartime consigliere. With a ruling that tends to prove Smith's approach works, Howell has no reason to do a victory lap with the fruits of Smith's brainchild. That's just a theory. And if it's accurate, it's a mistake. It doesn't serve the interests of the players. And it may have slammed the door on the ability of other players to parlay this partial (but significant) victory into a case of their own. The other potential explanation comes from the fact that former NFLPA president J.C. Tretter criticized in text messages then-Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson for failing to parlay the Watson contract into a fully-guaranteed contract of his own. The decision refers to Tretter's criticism of Wilson. As best Torre and I could determine, Tretter at a minimum referred to Wilson as a 'wuss.' Tretter also said this, I was told: 'Instead of being the guy that made guaranteed contracts the norm, he's the guy that ruined it for everyone.' As Torre has reported, the union kept the ruling quiet in part to protect Tretter. If the former union president and current NFLPA chief strategy officer has designs on becoming the executive director after Howell (and some think he does), it does not help Tretter's cause to have been caught making pejorative remarks about a member of the union. Of course, that cat is now out of the bag. And one of the big questions going forward is whether and to what extent the union's failure to use the collusion ruling as a sword against the NFL will have practical consequences for current NFLPA leadership.
NBC Sports
24-06-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Arbitrator found NFL encouraged teams to collude regarding guaranteed contracts
Both sides were determined to keep it secret. Some in the media were determined not to allow that to happen. With both the NFL and the NFL Players Association refusing to release a 61-page ruling by System Arbitrator Christopher Droney in the collusion grievance regarding guarantees in the contract of certain veteran players, two members of the media — Pablo Torre and yours truly — kept pushing. We had a friendly competition to see who could get it first. Pablo won. I'm glad he did. In the NFL media ecosystem, more than 90 percent of the 'journalism' isn't journalism at all. It's positioning for advance notice of an announcement that inevitably will be made. The real journalism (and the only real journalism) in this space comes from finding out the things 'they' don't want us to know. And they (here, the NFL and NFLPA) didn't want anyone to know the outcome of the collusion grievance. Although the NFL won, the NFL lost. As Droney wrote at pages 55 and 56 of the January 14, 2025 ruling, 'There is little question that the NFL Management Council, with the blessing of the Commissioner, encouraged the 32 NFL Clubs to reduce guarantees in veterans' contracts at the March 2022 annual owners' meeting.' In other words, the NFL wanted its member teams to collude. That meeting happened only days after the Browns gave a five-year, fully-guaranteed, $230 million contract to quarterback Deshaun Watson. It also happened only two years after the NFLPA tried, for the second time, to make all player contracts fully guaranteed as part of the broader Collective Bargaining Agreement. The league had fended off that effort, both in 2011 and in 2020. And the league didn't want to concede full guarantees on a piecemeal basis, with one team at a time giving players fully-guaranteed deals until they became the norm. The league ultimately won because Droney found that the evidence introduced at the 2024 hearing did not prove, by a 'clear preponderance' of the evidence, that the teams accepted and acted on the encouragement of the NFL Management Council. For anyone who has followed the inner workings of the league over the years, that's an astounding conclusion. One that defies common sense. Why have a Management Council if teams are going to ignore the things they encourage the teams to do? Some would say it's stronger than encouragement. Some would say the encouragement of the Management Council must be followed. We'll have much to say about the evidence and Droney's possible reasons for finding that, basically, the NFL was the gang that couldn't collude straight. For now, check out the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, with yours truly riding shotgun, for more about what one source with knowledge of the proceedings described as the most significant ruling in American sports since 1994. And both sides managed to hide it from everyone. For months. Indeed, even though the NFL won, it was caught with its hand in the collusion cookie jar. The league was saved only by the fact that Droney believed no cookies were consumed. Despite the pervasive crumbs.
