All eyes on the NFLPA

The storm clouds are gathering quickly for NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell.

Currently, people in and around the NFL are monitoring the situation very closely.

The question is whether Howell will be making a quick exit, with the NFLPA executive committee appointing an interim executive director pending a full-blown selection process.

As explained earlier, the NFLPA Constitution contemplates the removal of an executive director, if two thirds of the player representatives present at a meeting featuring a quorum of representatives (two thirds of all reps) vote for his ouster. It’s also possible that Howell will walk away before the full-blown process for removing him activates.

Howell was hired in June 2023. He’s currently facing an outside investigation from the Wilmer Hale firm regarding his activities on the job, along with multiple questions and/or scandals. More recently, ESPN.com reported that Howell works as a part-time consultant with a private-equity firm that has been approved to purchase minority interests in NFL teams.

Which is a massive conflict of interest. If, in post-truth and post-standards America, we still care about conflicts of interest.

(We should.)