The NFL Players Association executive director position was in JC Tretter’s line of sight after Lloyd Howell resigned.
But then he shockingly resigned on Sunday.
In an interview with CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, Tretter, who was the NFLPA’s chief strategy officer, revealed he would not only no longer be a candidate to replace Howell, he was leaving the Players Association completely.
“Over the last couple days, it has gotten very, very hard for my family. And that’s something I can’t deal with,” Tretter told Jones. “So, the short bullet points are: I have no interest in being (executive director). I have no interest in being considered; I’ve let the executive committee know that. I’m also going to leave the NFLPA in the coming days because I don’t have anything left to give the organization.”
Recently, Pablo Torre reported there were two grievances filed that involved Tretter, but neither were made public.
Tretter’s comments on a podcast in 2023 about players faking injuries for better leverage in contract negotiations led to a grievance being filed. The arbitrator rule in favor of the NFL.
Another grievance leaked showed finding evidence of collusion among teams, with Tretter calling Russell Wilson a “wuss” for not securing a fully guaranteed contract. It was decided by the NFLPA to not make the the ruling public because, according to Torre, they wanted to protect Tretter.
Howell resigned last week after ESPN reported the NFLPA hired an outside investigator and documents were received showing Howell charged the union for two visits to strip clubs.
Tretter admitted to Jones that Howell wasn’t his first choice to be director, but Howell ultimately won the job over former SAG-AFTRA director David White despite White receiving a 10-1 vote. The vote was not shared with the 32 player representatives.
Howell was said to have performed better in interviews.
Tretter was reported to be in a “two-man race” to take over for Howell. But now that’s not the case.
“I’m not resigning in disgrace. I’m resigning because this has gone too far for me and my family, and I’ve sucked it up for six weeks,” Tretter told Jones. “And I felt like I’ve been kind of left in the wind taking shots for the best of the organization,” he said.
NFLPA chief player officer Don Davis is now reportedly the frontrunner to land the role.
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