J.C. Tretter, Don Davis Are Frontrunners For Interim NFLPA Exec. Director

The NFLPA is continuing to navigate the fallout of a series of revelations about executive director Lloyd Howell and his subsequent resignation.

The union’s 32 player representatives met on Friday night to discuss the next steps regarding Howell’s now-vacant position. Two current NFLPA leaders emerged as frontrunners, according to The Athletic’s Diana Russini: Chief Strategy Officer J.C. Tretter and Chief Player Officer Don Davis. Also gaining some support among players is retiring NFLPA general counsel Tom DePaso, per Mark Maske of The Washington Post.

Tretter and Davis are both former players, which will help them gain credibility among the union’s active membership. Tretter lined up at center for the Packers and the Browns across eight NFL seasons, while Davis played linebacker for four teams across 11 years and earned two back-to-back Super Bowl rings with the Patriots in 2003 and 2004.

Tretter also has experience leading the union after serving as NFLPA president for two terms. He was elected in March 2020 and helped close out collective bargaining negotiations with the league. One month later, the NFL was facing an uncertain future due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tretter became the co-chair of the NFLPA’s COVID committee and helped the union navigate the 2020 season. It was widely considered a success with a full 256-game schedule and minimal, contained outbreaks. Tretter then won re-election in 2022, but his second term could be a vulnerability due to his involvement with several major issues facing the union. Two of those issues – hiring Howell in 2023 and suppressing two arbitration rulings – were part of Tretter’s effort to ascend to the top of the union’s leadership structure, according to Pablo Torre of Pablo Finds Out.

The 34-year-old currently has a “majority of support,” per Russini, but there is a growing movement among players to move on from Tretter’s leadership along with Howell. Some are even exploring legal action against the NFLPA and Tretter specifically, “citing potential violations around inclusion, labor rights, and misuse of union funds,” according to Russini. A text criticizing Tretter’s leadership circulated between players during last night’s meeting, per Ben Volin of the Boston Globe.

Davis, who has overseen player affairs at the NFLPA for more than a decade, is Tretter’s main competition for the interim executive director role. He is considered the “No. 1 internal candidate,” per CBS Sports Jonathan Jones, and is already receiving support from players, according to both Russini and Maske. (Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. has already expressed his support for Davis on social media.)

After he retired from playing in 2006, Davis joined the Patriots’ strength and conditioning staff and later became the team chaplain. He joined the NFLPA as director of player affairs in 2010, according to his LinkedIn, and was promoted to senior director in 2015 and Chief Player Officer this past April. Davis could also be a candidate for the permanent executive director job, per Jones.

DePaso, the union’s retiring general counsel who briefly played for the Bengals, is another name that has been mentioned by players as a candidate. There is also precedent for the union’s general counsel to serve as interim executive director. The last time the NFLPA needed an interim executive director was 2008, when Gene Upshaw died in office. Then-general counsel Richard Berthelsen served as Upshaw’s interim replacement until DeMaurice Smith was hired, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Howell was just hired in 2023 and past executive directors have typically served more than a decade, so the union was not prepared to start another search process right away. Finalists in the last process are unlikely to re-emerge, according to Jones, as players will be seeking a leader they can trust. The union will be looking for experience, either within the NFL as a player or with labor management more generally. The NFLPA currently has no timetable for selecting a permanent executive director, per Russini, and whoever is tapped as the interim is not expected to be promoted to the full-time role.

It’s also worth noting that many players are not fully up to date on the multitude of issues now facing the NFLPA. Much of last night’s meeting was about answering questions and clarifying information, according to Russini. Awareness will continue to spread around the league, especially as teams reunite for training camp. The union’s next priority will be selecting an interim leader before kicking off what will likely be a revamped, more thorough search process for a permanent executive director.