ASHBURN, Va. — Despite a leadership void following the controversy-laden resignations of executive director Lloyd Howell and chief strategy officer J.C. Tretter, Austin Ekeler said the NFL Players Association leaders are telling membership that the union is in good hands and still operating with their best interests in mind, while asserting that things remain more stable than they appear.
Members of the union’s executive committee and the board of player representatives continue to deliberate over the selection for an interim executive director, and there is no public timeline for filling the position. However, Ekeler, the Washington Commanders running back and member of the 11-person executive committee, said on Friday that, as players reach out to NFLPA leaders with concerns, leaders have worked to assure players that the union is not rudderless.
“We’re telling guys that, Hey, we need to move urgent, but we also need to move smart right now,” Ekeler told The Athletic. “We don’t want to put ourselves in a place where we continue to set ourselves back — because we have had a setback and we need to fill those gaps — but we want to make sure we’re moving smart and urgent, and this isn’t something that has to be immediately done to fill these spots. We have a lot of great staff that we can trust that are in leadership roles. But understand, we’re in training camp, so we’re not going to get a lot done right now anyway, but when we do bring you stuff, it’s going to be important.”
Howell resigned after two years on the job amid a storm of criticism over his leadership and missteps including:
• Reaching a confidentiality agreement with the NFL to conceal information regarding an arbitration decision involving potential collusion by owners around guaranteed contracts.
• A federal investigation involving potential improprieties by leaders of the MLBPA and NFLPA relating to the OneTeam Partners group licensing firm.
• Concerns about a conflict of interest because of consulting work Howell was doing for a private equity firm that was recently approved by the NFL to pursue minority ownership stakes.
• Concerns over Howell’s use of NFLPA money to fund two extravagant trips to strip clubs — actions for which he received reprimands.
Ekeler acknowledged that numerous players had expressed concern after learning of the calamity through media reports. And Washington Commanders player representative Tress Way said players on many teams had contacted him and his player-rep counterparts, raising similar concerns. Ekeler and Way said that, in some cases, NFLPA player leaders were learning the details of the controversies surrounding Howell at the same time as other players were.
“It’s a little bit unfair to criticize them, ‘Like why are we just finding out,’ because some things they couldn’t tell us until it came out, and in some cases, they were just learning about aspects themselves,” Way said. “So, it’s a tough deal, but we trust those guys. We take those votes for executive committee members very seriously, and I put my coins with those guys and trust that they’re going to have us pointed in the right direction.”
Initially, it was believed that either Tretter or chief player officer Don Davis would fill the role of interim executive director. But Tretter resigned in part due to frustrations over what he viewed as unfair criticism directed his way, he said in an interview with CBS Sports. Earlier this week, NFLPA president and former Detroit Lions linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (currently a free agent) issued a statement saying that the union would hold an election for the interim position as soon as possible, and offered players assurances that the process was being handled with extreme care.
Ekeler said on Friday that the worst thing union leaders could do is rush through the selection process, even if it is a temporary position.
“We get a lot of pressure because of headlines in the media about, the leadership is this, or this person steps out, and it almost causes a false sense of us needing to react — and we do need to react, but it doesn’t need to be immediately,” Ekeler said.
He said that a careful selection process is necessary because of several pressing matters facing the NFLPA, and therefore the interim executive director.
“It’s definitely a to-do list because first of all, we need to make sure we’re gaining the trust and righting the ship where it is as far as the union and where we’re going with the players, making sure there’s trust there,” Ekeler said. “And I’d say making sure there’s trust with the (non-player NFLPA) staff and making sure the staff knows this is something we have to buy into. We have some issues that are going on with investigations, with several cases we have going on right now. And we have general operations of the union that go on. We have some people retiring, people that need to be hired in key roles. So, it’s going to be an active job … the entirety of the NFLPA, which is kind of a three-headed monster — the union, OneTeam Partners and Players Inc., the three buckets we have — and I’ll just stop there, because those are the details that this person is probably going to be handling in those 90 days or whatever it is that they’re in that role.”
Ekeler said that while it’s unfortunate Howell’s hiring in 2023 didn’t play out as the long-term, beneficial move players envisioned, he remains proud of the work of the executive committee during that hiring process. At the time of Howell’s hiring, which was determined by player election, Tretter and fellow leaders drew criticism for the way that they conducted the search, with perceived secrecy. They kept the field of candidates under wraps until presenting the top two choices to the player body for a vote with little time for membership to conduct their own research. Tretter and his team also drew criticism for excluding high-ranking NFLPA staff members from the process, which restricted the amount of input those advisors could have offered the executive committee members leading up to the selection.
Ekeler still views the handling of the process favorably, but does think there are lessons to be learned for the next executive director hiring.
“What people don’t understand about our ‘secretive process,’ as it’s been called, is, the union is not an easy job,” he said. “You need top talent, and if you’re looking for top talent, they already have a job somewhere — we have to protect their name in secrecy so we can protect them at the job that they’re currently at. So, I love what we did as far as our process. Maybe there is some involvement with staff that we could have a little bit more of for their impact, maybe bringing them in and broadening our hiring process, potentially. But that’s not really up to me. That’s up to the board on if we want to change anything on how we handle the process the next time around.
“But, for me, I think it was a good process. There were a few issues that wound up biting us that we couldn’t have foreseen at the time, but I like where we’re at.”
(Photo of Austin Ekeler: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
