Former NFLPA President JC Tretter Resigns in Latest Union Shakeup

Former NFL Players Association president JC Tretter won’t be the union’s next executive director. Instead, the candidate to replace Lloyd Howell, who resigned on Thursday, said he’s leaving the PA “in the coming days.”

Speaking to CBS Sports, Tretter expressed frustration at recent reporting and criticism of his tenure. The former Packers and Browns center served as NFLPA president from 2020 to 2024, presiding over Howell’s hiring by the NFL’s representative board in 2023. Following his time atop the organization, Tretter was hired in October to serve as chief strategy officer.

“I think a lot of the attacks on me came from inside the building over the last six weeks,” Tretter said in his CBS Sports interview. “And I don’t want to walk inside that building anymore.”

In June, some players called out union leadership for its handling of a January arbitration ruling that found “a clear preponderance” of evidence that NFL voices advised teams to avoid giving players guaranteed contracts following Deshaun Watson’s unprecedented $230 million deal. The ruling was reportedly kept secret from union membership. The NFLPA has said it will appeal the decision, which found that owners didn’t collude to suppress player salaries.

“It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day,” Howell wrote in his resignation statement on the same day that reports emerged of him filing expense reports tied to visits to strip clubs.

In the arbitration ruling that was previously kept secret, Tretter was found to have criticized quarterback Russell Wilson for his decision to sign a non-guaranteed contract offer from the Broncos. The NFL also previously won a grievance case against the union after Tretter mentioned the possibility of individual players faking injuries as part of their efforts to negotiate new contracts.

On Friday, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reported on X that NFL players were sharing a text message that asked, “When will the players rise up and hold Tretter accountable for all this?”

Still, The Athletic reported Friday that Tretter was one of the likely contenders to replace Howell, at least on an interim basis. NBC Sports and the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast have speculated that Tretter might have been scheming to take the top job for some time. 

According to CBS Sports, former players and longtime union affiliates Don Davis and Zamir Cobb remain candidates for the executive director role. The NFLPA is expected to name a successor in the coming days. The union declined to comment on Tretter’s decision.

“I’m not resigning in disgrace,” Tretter said to CBS Sports. “I’m resigning because this has gone too far for me and my family, and I’ve sucked it up for six weeks. And I felt like I’ve been kind of left in the wind taking shots for the best of the organization.”

The departures come months after an ESPN report that federal prosecutors were investigating financial deals tied to licensing company OneTeam Partners, which was cofounded by the NFLPA and the MLBPA.