To the extent that Sunday’s slow-pitch sit-down with CBS was the first of several image-rehab interviews for former NFL Players Association chief strategy officer JC Tretter, there’s one specific subject that is ripe for followup if/when he speaks again.
As to the NFLPA’s decision to strictly limit access to the 61-page ruling in the collusion grievance — and the reported deal with the NFL to keep it secret — Tretter, per the CBSSports.com article, “vehemently denies having access to that collusion grievance or any involvement in the confidentially [sic] agreement struck by Howell with the NFL to keep those findings secret.”
That’s a stunner, given Tretter’s job title. Chief strategy officer. Armed with both a finding that the NFL’s Management Council, with the blessing of the Commissioner, had urged teams to collude regarding guaranteed contract and evidence supporting a finding of actual collusion, it was time for the NFLPA to devise a (wait for it) strategy on how to proceed.
The eventual strategy entailed pretending the whole thing never happened.
So either Tretter was kept entirely in the dark about something that falls squarely within his purview, or he’s currently not being honest. And if he is currently being honest, why didn’t he pack up personal effects and walk out on the day he learned that now-former NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell had usurped Tretter’s authority and rendered his presence irrelevant?
It was perhaps the most important, peace-time strategic decision for the NFLPA to make. And Tretter’s version is that he had nothing to do with the formulation of the strategy.
Then, when he found out he’d been cut out of the loop on such an important matter, he just shrugged.
Tretter’s vehement denial comes amid reporting and analysis that the ruling may have been hidden in order to conceal the fact that he had disparaged quarterback Russell Wilson for not getting a fully-guaranteed contract from the Broncos in 2022 — and reporting and analysis that the NFL inexplicably concealed from the media the slam-dunk victory in the grievance sparked by Tretter’s ill-advised comments about disgruntled employees faking injuries.
Regardless of whether there was an express agreement to do so, the clear implication was and is that both sides exercised maximum discretion regarding their mutual victories.
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