After his release from the Browns earlier this offseason, J.C. Tretter represented one of the top centers on the open market. Having failed to land on a roster, the veteran is retiring, reports Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network (on Twitter). 
In his official announcement, Tretter reflected on his commitment to converting to offensive line to land in the NFL, saying that “I am proud of what I’ve accomplished… I feel like if my 31-year-old self could talk to my 20-year-old self, I could earnestly tell him that we did it. We did everything we said we’d do and more” (Twitter link).
Tretter was a fourth-round pick of the Packers in 2013. Over that time, he grew into a starting role, leading him to Cleveland in free agency. For the past five seasons, he had been a model of consistency in the middle of the team’s offensive line, missing just one game over that span and logging over 1,000 snaps every year.
In a cost-cutting move at the start of free agency, though, the Browns released the Cornell alum, freeing up more than $8MM in cap space. He was expected to generate a relatively significant market for himself given the lack of more established options in free agency, along with injuries suffered by the likes of Ryan Jensen. Instead, not much traction was gained from outside teams, and the Browns were prepared to give the starting role to Nick Harris.
Even after Harris suffered a season-ending injury, a reunion with Cleveland was deemed unlikely. Tretter’s status as president of the NFLPA reportedly caused tension between himself and the organization, and was thought to be chief among the reasons he was unable to land on a roster throughout the summer. CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones tweets that Tretter will stay on as president of the union.
With Tretter off the table as a fill-in for Harris, the Browns will move forward with veteran Ethan Pocic at the pivot. Other veterans still available include Matt Paradis, Trey Hopkins and Billy Price; they could start to see offers (from Cleveland or elsewhere) given Tretter’s decision to join fellow veteran center Alex Mack in retirement.
Tretter will end his career with more than $44.5MM in total earnings, an impressive sum for a player who never made a Pro Bowl appearance. His attention can now turn exclusively to working with the NFLPA, which he has headed since 2020.
Wow
Meow
The capital of Maine is Montpelier, Vermont, which is near Ithaca, New York, where I went to Cornell.
Obviously a very smart man who doesn’t need the NFL to be a success. If I was him I’d just walk away from the whole thing and tell anyone who takes that job to watch your back. Billionaires don’t like smart guys telling them that they basically don’t give a crap about their employees and try to hold them accountable. The real reason Robbie Gould isn’t a Bear is because he was the Bears player rep and a high ranking player union guy and well, We all know how petty and narrow minded the McCaskey/Halas dictatorship is. Oh we should pay you what you deserve? Sorry but you gotta go. It gave me great joy when they cut Gould because he made too much money supposedly, Then actually got a K they paid more money, And he lost them the Playoff game by missing the double doink FG. Gould had to be laughing so hard he wet himself. I was.
Very cool to see an NFL player intelligent enough to handle his money well and not come back to degenerate in two or three seasons on a vet minimum-style contract. Leave while still at your peak, before sustaining life-changing injuries from wear and tear.
The weirdness of no offers probably due to Tretter’s effectiveness as a head of NFLPA is strange though. Time to introduce a rule that the head of NFLPA serves out his term, even if he is no longer an active player. An inactive player would have more time to invest in serving the players.
Nobody wanted to sign him because of his strong opinions while serving with the NFLPA. Rumor anyway.
NFL ownership/management continue to punish players who take on Union leadership roles. There needs to be some kind of resolution to this situation because it’s a very bad look for the league.
The players should come together and demand that this blackballing activity stops. Either that or don’t have active players in Union leadership roles.
It might be smarter to have paid reps who are ex-players to perform these roles.
What’s the plan, make them untouchable? That would only work if the NFL or union were to fund their salary, and even then, teams can only fit 53 players on the roster. Not everyone is deserving (though this is certainly not the case).
How about this…a player who holds a position in the union ( including team rep) has their current contract fully guaranteed, and if they get cut, the remainder of their contract is paid by the league (please don’t tell me the league can’t afford it). If a player is still in office after his contract expires, then he is paid at the league minimum. I know the league and some others may object to this plan, but giving special protections to union representatives is not unheard-of. The purpose of the protections is to help ensure a union’s representatives don’t have to worry about personal consequences while trying to fight for others.
More to this story than anyone with a journalism job cares to find out. Pretty sad that people are so lazy nowadays.
So NoPo, is speculation hard work? Because without the facts that you apparently must possess, speculation is all that remains. Maybe you could share?
“No politics in sports”?? All for it. Let’s start with no more anything military-related being shoved down our throats during games and broadcasts, no more Star Bangled Banner, and no more “God Bless America.” No more John 3:16 and other religion-related signs. Then take most of the games off Fox because quite often their announcers can’t help themselves with their coded language and subtle remarks. Let alone there are too many commercial breaks on that network. (ESPN/ABC is terrible for ads too.)
Then let’s look at where some teams are located in relation to some cities that should have teams.
But see, none of that’s ever going to happen because the NFL and the networks are mainly owned and controlled by people (I use that term loosely) with a certain political slant and background.
Though I’m with you regarding the lack of real actual journalism regarding many aspects of this country.