On July 17, Lloyd Howell Jr., the executive director of the National Football League’s Players Association, the union responsible for collectively representing the interests of the league’s athletes, announced that he would be stepping down due to multiple controversies that have surrounded his relatively brief tenure.
According to The Athletic, Howell, who assumed his post in 2023, has been dealing with a number of complaints about him and the process itself which led to his appointment after the departure of former executive director, DeMaurice Smith. Smith held the post from 2009 until 2023, when following concerns raised over his handling of collective bargaining agreements, he was voted out by the players.
A search process ensued following Smith’s departure, however, this process has been heavily criticized for its lack of transparency, and the result of that search process was hiring Howell for the role, a few months after Howell joined The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm group that the NFL utilizes to vet prospective minority stake owners in its franchises.
In Howell’s announcement, he noted that he believed the questions around him threatened to distract from the necessary work of the NFLPA, and thus tendered his resignation which became effective upon his announcement.
“It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day,” Howell wrote in the statement. “…I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season.”
He continued, “I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish at the NFLPA over the past two years. I will be rooting for the players from the sidelines as loud as ever, and I know the NFLPA will continue to ensure that players remain firmly at the center of football’s future.”
The questions around Howell only intensified after it was revealed earlier in July that the NFL and the NFLPA entered into a confidentiality agreement to conceal information about an arbitration agreement that all but confirmed that the NFL owners engaged in collusion to keep players from receiving too many guaranteed contracts.
Officially, the arbitration judge ruled that there was not enough evidence that the owners colluded, but somehow, when perennial MVP candidate Lamar Jackson indicated in 2023 that he wanted a better deal than the Baltimore Ravens were offering, suddenly, quarterback poor franchises like the Atlanta Falcons decided he wasn’t worth the fully guaranteed contract that he was reportedly seeking.
It should be noted that the NFL is the only major American sport not to award players with fully guaranteed contracts, generally, this is a point of contention in most CBA negotiations between the players and the owners.
In his ruling, arbitrator Christopher Dorney noted that although the evidence did not support a clear ruling of collusion, “by a clear preponderance of the evidence,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s lawyers did encourage owners to restrict guaranteed money in player contracts.
Despite Howell’s resignation, however, subsequent reports, including one from ESPN indicated that in 2023, he expensed the NFLPA for a car service at popular Miami area gentleman’s club Tootsie’s Cabaret. At another point, Howell allegedly itemized $2,426 in charges, including cash withdrawals from an ATM in the club ranging between $200 and $525.
Howell has not addressed this latest round of allegations, and the NFLPA itself is looking to turn the page on the Lloyd Howell-era quickly; currently, the leading candidates to replace Howell are J.C. Trotter, a former center, former union president and the current NFLPA chief strategy officer; and Don Davis, but whichever of the two men is named the interim executive director, neither will ascend to the permanent role as the NFLPA weighs its next steps following the tumultuous leadership of Howell.
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