The NFLPA Is Becoming A Sham Organization

[HOUSE]

Have you seen the price on a new Lamborghini lately ?

The players need more money

Do your job 

[JP51]

13 hours ago, RoscoeParrish said:

trends change for sure.

 

i think the thing you have to think about is free agency. You don’t have 1 competitor, you have 31. And they are really dictating price of X guys, collectively. 
 

And the laws of nature means that bad players will always outnumber the good ones and the great ones will be far and few between.

 

You can’t build a roster of B+ players making B+ money because there will always be teams willing to pay them A money to steal them away.  Heck, the Bills lost guys like Gabe and Edmunds to that not too long ago.

Water will find its level, like it always does. RBs are still devalued, just not crazily so. WRs will still get paid a ton, but maybe a little less in the future

I pretty much agree... I honestly see the trends changing as they always do... I think my b+ vs b- was a metaphor for reallocation of available funds which if the trend changes that is a way teams could go... but readily admit I don't have the insight to say where it actually will go.... I think the original premise is plausible, maybe even probable... but I wonder if it doesnt play out another way... I guess we shall see... 

Edited July 11 by JP51

[Mat68]

21 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

The counter to this is the NFL is the most violent professional league with 53 active staff, and 17 PS.  They already have made a lot of progress in guaranteed contracts.  Not Watson, but across the board with starters.  It would be financially irresponsible to have all guaranteed contracts.  It would also be foolish.  What do you do about the $250 mil. QB contract and gets a career ending injury in the 3rd game of the season of season 1 of a 5 year contract.  It will never happen.

 

Besides Im a fan, and really dont care how either side manages their business.  Football is not a career.  Not when the avg life of an NFL player is still inder 4 years.

Have they?  Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, Burrow re upped.  They don't get it no one does.  During and after the Watson grievence for colliding the NFLPA should have had a league wide meeting explaining the collusion and pushed the narrative with the top players to get fully guranteed contracts.  The NFLPA failed the players and worked to keep it quiet.  The NFLPA showed they are a shame and a kangaroo court for the owners to push the rules they want while avoiding antitrust regulation.  Im only a fan as well.  Just wild the story has become.  Its the weakest union in pro sports.  It’s also the most lucrative league.  Chet Holmgren got 250 guaranteed.  Diffetent sport but fragile and often injured.  Unless you severely break your leg in multiple places there are not career ending injuries.  

Edited July 11 by Mat68

[Coffeesforclosers]

On 7/10/2025 at 10:59 AM, BillsVet said:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45705432/nflpa-head-works-firm-approved-invest-nfl

 

Imagine being represented by a union where your executive director:

 

1. Works with management to ensure your pay is made less guaranteed than it could be.  Then, agrees with management to keep an arbitrator's findings from becoming known to members that specifies this happened.  

 

2. Receives a multi-million dollar compensation package representing your union while simultaneously doing outside work.  When asked to resign from one part-time position, he refuses.  

 

3. That outside work includes working for a private equity firm, albeit in another sector, that is likely to invest in NFL franchises.  And, serves on 3 other boards and is paid by those companies as well.  

 

The NFLPA has gradually, since the death of Gene Upshaw, become more of partners with the NFL than anything else.  At the same time, the search committee recommended this guy and it's their funeral for hiring him.  

 

I only highlight this situation because, at some point, the players' relationship with both the league and their executive/leadership will sour if it hasn't already.  And that means what has been labor peace since 2012 will likely end.  The current CBA doesn't expire until 2030, but at some point I expect there will be problems.  

 

Sounds like they're going through the same cycle of decline as the UAW. Once leadership sees themselves as partners with management, you're toast.

[RoscoeParrish]

27 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

Have they?  Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, Burrow re upped.  They don't get it no one does.  During and after the Watson grievence for colliding the NFLPA should have had a league wide meeting explaining the collusion and pushed the narrative with the top players to get fully guranteed contracts.  The NFLPA failed the players and worked to keep it quiet.  The NFLPA showed they are a shame and a kangaroo court for the owners to push the rules they want while avoiding antitrust regulation.  Im only a fan as well.  Just wild the story has become.  Its the weakest union in pro sports.  It’s also the most lucrative league.  Chet Holmgren got 250 guaranteed.  Diffetent sport but fragile and often injured.  Unless you severely break your leg in multiple places there are not career ending injuries.  

Different sport, but the Bucks have to pay Damian Lillard $20M annually over the next 5 years and the Suns are desperately trying to do the same with Bradley Beal to get out of their contracts which is likely going to cripple both franchises. And those combined $40M annual deals is $40M less to give to the other players. 
 

Do you think the NFLPA sees the Deshaun Watson contract and result as a win or a loss for their constituents? We are talking about a deal that would only happen for a handful of players at most

 

The bottom line is that the cap keeps going up, the pay keeps going up. There’s more money in not stamping your feet about collusion and they recognize that.

[SoCal Deek]

33 minutes ago, Coffeesforclosers said:

 

Sounds like they're going through the same cycle of decline as the UAW. Once leadership sees themselves as partners with management, you're toast.

Seems like the Union has negotiated higher pay and less working hours, while avoiding a work stoppage for almost twenty years. Isn’t that what the Union is supposed to do? 

[BillsVet]

19 minutes ago, Coffeesforclosers said:

Sounds like they're going through the same cycle of decline as the UAW. Once leadership sees themselves as partners with management, you're toast.

 

Essentially my point and what I've observed elsewhere: those outside of the union's executive leadership are increasingly marginalized and treated like chaff.  

 

3 minutes ago, RoscoeParrish said:

Different sport, but the Bucks have to pay Damian Lillard $20M annually over the next 5 years and the Suns are desperately trying to do the same with Bradley Beal to get out of their contracts which is likely going to cripple both franchises. And those combined $40M annual deals is $40M less to give to the other players. 
 

Do you think the NFLPA sees the Deshaun Watson contract and result as a win or a loss for their constituents? We are talking about a deal that would only happen for a handful of players at most

 

The bottom line is that the cap keeps going up, the pay keeps going up. There’s more money in not stamping your feet about collusion and they recognize that.

 

NBA franchises aren't going to be crippled by a contract like that, not when the team cap is 155M next year.  You're advocating that, because risk comes when an athlete sustains an injury and/or production declines it's proof-positive that guaranteed contracts are bad.  They're not.  Risk cannot be totally eliminated and teams make decisions that go awry.  It's part of life.     

 

Taking this back to the Bills, whenever Beane has wanted to cut someone's pay, the player wound up being cut not long after.  NFL players have less leverage than their NBA, MLB, and NHL counterparts in many instances and this is exemplified with other franchises.    

 

What I'm seeing here is people claim that guaranteed contracts would prompt teams to be hesitant to spend.  I disagree.  Teams still are under pressure to win as evidenced by the yearly HC carousel and have their own guaranteed income from revenue sharing.  Teams are required to spend a certain percentage and would acquiesce...which would demand being more careful particularly in UFA.    

 

It's funny to discuss this because I was once vehemently pro-management and viewed players as typically the problem.    

[Mat68]

25 minutes ago, RoscoeParrish said:

Different sport, but the Bucks have to pay Damian Lillard $20M annually over the next 5 years and the Suns are desperately trying to do the same with Bradley Beal to get out of their contracts which is likely going to cripple both franchises. And those combined $40M annual deals is $40M less to give to the other players. 
 

Do you think the NFLPA sees the Deshaun Watson contract and result as a win or a loss for their constituents? We are talking about a deal that would only happen for a handful of players at most

 

The bottom line is that the cap keeps going up, the pay keeps going up. There’s more money in not stamping your feet about collusion and they recognize that.

It didn't meet the legal requirement but holding meetings specifically about the Watson contract and how to avoid that happening going forward is collusion.  Then the owners senior committee advised against the practice going forward.   Is a paper trail to all teams.  NFLPA wanting it sealed.  Head lawyer of NFLPA part of a private equity company involved in multiple NFL franchises.  Allen for instances would not push for a fully guaranteed deal.  If he was properly informed and bettering the game for all players he might have.  That imo should be the job of the NFLPA.  One less week of OTA’s and changing a decimal on THC testing shouldn't be the headline news.  Im not super invested but in July it is very interesting.  It also takes a handful.  Like I said Allen, Mahomes, Burrow, Jackson open the gates.  Next Garret, Jefferson and other great players get it.  First rd picks are starting to get fully guaranteed deals already.  Slowly becomes the norm.  I don't understand the purpose to agreeing to sealing the case.  

[RoscoeParrish]

8 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

NBA franchises aren't going to be crippled by a contract like that, not when the team cap is 155M next year.

Yes, they are.

 

I don’t know how well-versed you are in the intricacies of the NBA, but most teams with reasonable ownership operate extremely close to the margins. 
 

For the 27-28 Bucks, they will have 4 players under contract in TOTAL and only $12M in cap space. They have to get to a roster of at least 13. Now they have access to mid level exceptions, but it’s basically a slot where they can’t pay anybody. 
 

Is it the worst thing in the world? No.

 

Can they work around it? They are going to try.

 

Is having basically a starter’s salary in dead money for the next 5 years objectively very bad for a small market franchise with a marquee superstar? Yes, of course.

15 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

You're advocating that, because risk comes when an athlete sustains an injury and/or production declines it's proof-positive that guaranteed contracts are bad.  They're not.  Risk cannot be totally eliminated and teams make decisions that go awry.  It's part of life.     

In a league with the most injuries, and the most to potentially lose with guaranteed contracts, yes I am arguing it would be bad for the NFL at large. It would be bad for the franchises and bad for the players and bad for the fans.

 

16 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

Taking this back to the Bills, whenever Beane has wanted to cut someone's pay, the player wound up being cut not long after. 

Well, yeah. Players are getting asked to take pay cuts because they aren’t performing well enough. Their agents are evaluating the market and saying “no one else is going to pay you more than your requested pay cut, so you are better off taking it.” They aren’t just guessing.

 

Josh Allen hasn’t been asked for a pay cut and won’t be as long as he keeps performing well. Dawson Knox and Von Miller have both taken pay cuts because their production hasn’t justified their salaries and they didn’t want to test their luck on the open market. Von is notably on the couch. Star took his paycut and was out the league. It’s not like they took a pay cut and got screwed out of a years salary because other teams wanted to pay him big bucks.

20 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

 

What I'm seeing here is people claim that guaranteed contracts would prompt teams to be hesitant to spend.  I disagree. 

 

20 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

Teams are required to spend a certain percentage and would acquiesce...which would demand being more careful particularly in UFA.    

To me, these statements are in conflict. How can teams be more careful in UFA and NOT be hesitant to spend? That seems to go hand in hand. And what players hit UFA? Not the superstars, they get locked up or tagged. It’s the NFL middle and lower classes who are desperately trying to get a $5M deal with $2.5M guaranteed. 
 

Guaranteeing contracts at this point in the NFL requires putting an entire guaranteed portion in escrow. We have seen teams like the Bengals and Cowboys be hesitant to pay their SUPERSTARS on time. The Bengals are notoriously cash poor. They have 37% of their cap tied up in QB and WR and it was a struggle to get there. Do you think having to dole out the other at least 63% in guarantees is going to be a problem? 
 

Of course it would be. And it would be a problem for the majority of the league. I don’t think folks realize how much money ISN’T guaranteed in the NFL. You can’t flip that switch and do a complete 180 without completely fundamentally altering the market and if you try, you will end up with a whole bunch of teams handing out league minimums left and right.

 

If contracts are fully guaranteed, does a Devin Singletary type player get $5M on the market or league minimum? I think we all know the answer to that.

27 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

It's funny to discuss this because I was once vehemently pro-management and viewed players as typically the problem.   

I’m not viewing anyone as a problem. There is no problem. The players are making more money than ever. Threatening a strike to get guaranteed contracts that will ultimately, imo, harm the earnings of the vast majority of NFL players, is just bad business. Make less money with a shortened season and make less money overall is exactly what the NFLPA shouldn’t do. 

[DrBob806]

On 7/10/2025 at 12:40 PM, corta765 said:

 

 

To me the thing the NFL has to be really careful with is the streaming part. The ability to watch the best games in the NFL without paying allows the NFL in my opinion to stay king. If they ever touch those CBS/FOX/NBC packages that people watch without needing to pay for I think they may overdo what they have and it won't be reversable.

It's too late. They've already gone there (as you know). 

 

Amazon Prime

Yahoo

NFL Network

 

Just to name a few. I think there's others.

[nucci]

31 minutes ago, DrBob806 said:

It's too late. They've already gone there (as you know). 

 

Amazon Prime

Yahoo

NFL Network

 

Just to name a few. I think there's others.

Peacock, Netflix

[Sierra Foothills]

Firstly, the Executive Director of any labor union should always publicly cite any wrongdoing or bad faith tactics by management.

 

He does this by bringing the wrongdoing to light and making it a part of the public record so that it can be leveraged when necessary in litigation or as a bargaining chip. His job is to police and call out these transgressions, not sweep them under the rug.

 

Not only did Lloyd Howell not do this but he also failed to represent the findings to his members in an accurate way.

 

In this regard, he abdicated his two most fundamental duties.

 

This does not mean that Howell should disturb labor peace. It does not mean he should overplay the issue. It does not mean that he should make a mountain out of molehill.

 

But Howell was not doing his job and his non-actions violated his duty to the thousands of players he represents.

 

On a different subject, the biggest unresolved issue in the current NFL CBA is guaranteed contracts. Ultimately like EVERY OTHER MAJOR NORTH AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS LEAGUE, the NFL should have guaranteed contracts. Especially because these players have a much higher rate of catastrophic injuries and also shorter careers. They also have a higher incidence of post-career debilitating conditions. Their contracts should be fully guaranteed.

 

To those saying that it can't be done, or that doing it would cause an untenable situation for owners, that's untrue. Already the percentage of guaranteed money in NFL contracts (for both veterans and rookies) has been increasing over the years. 1st round draft picks now have fully guaranteed contracts and I believe it won't be long until all rookie contracts are guaranteed. The current impasse with this year's 2nd round picks is because of this very issue.

 

Ultimately I see all NFL contracts being fully guaranteed and this is being achieved incrementally, allowing the owners to moderate and mitigate the effects of those guarantees. The NFL owners are purposely dragging their feet (colluding) on this issue because any money saved now is more money later on via the maturation of their investments. It's the same reason that legacy industry leaders drag their feet on those new technologies which threaten their primacy... to delay the inevitable in the name of squeezing a few more million/billion dollars until they can no longer hold back the prevailing industry tide.

 

When all guarantees are fully guaranteed there will be foreseen and unforeseen consequences such as smaller contracts, shorter contracts, less dumping of injured players (if you have to pay them, you might as well rehab them), less dead money, etc.

 

I think ultimately players will have to decide whether they want to trade the potential for higher earnings in exchange for income certainty.. smaller but guaranteed sums of money.

 

To that tradeoff I refer back to the saying, "one in the hand is worth two in the bush."

 

 

 

 

Edited July 12 by Sierra Foothills

[Chandler#81]

It’s not a sham organization. It’s called doing bidniz in America

[DrBob806]

10 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

Firstly, the Executive Director of any labor union should always publicly cite any wrongdoing or bad faith tactics by management.

 

He does this by bringing the wrongdoing to light and making it a part of the public record so that it can be leveraged when necessary in litigation or as a bargaining chip. His job is to police and call out these transgressions, not sweep them under the rug.

 

Not only did Lloyd Howell not do this but he also failed to represent the findings to his members in an accurate way.

 

In this regard, he abdicated his two most fundamental duties.

 

This does not mean that Howell should disturb labor peace. It does not mean he should overplay the issue. It does not mean that he should make a mountain out of molehill.

 

But Howell was not doing his job and his non-actions violated his duty to the thousands of players he represents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Totally agree. I was a Union President for over 15 years, I cannot fathom hiding info from the members. 

[dave mcbride]

On 7/11/2025 at 11:18 AM, Mat68 said:

Have they?  Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, Burrow re upped.  They don't get it no one does.  During and after the Watson grievence for colliding the NFLPA should have had a league wide meeting explaining the collusion and pushed the narrative with the top players to get fully guranteed contracts.  The NFLPA failed the players and worked to keep it quiet.  The NFLPA showed they are a shame and a kangaroo court for the owners to push the rules they want while avoiding antitrust regulation.  Im only a fan as well.  Just wild the story has become.  Its the weakest union in pro sports.  It’s also the most lucrative league.  Chet Holmgren got 250 guaranteed.  Diffetent sport but fragile and often injured.  Unless you severely break your leg in multiple places there are not career ending injuries.  

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45712186/why-nflpa-mess-matter-football-fans 
 

The Lamar Jackson story here - no offers despite the fact that he was obviously one of the best five QBs in a league with a lot of terrible qbs - is the icing on the cake.