Total Pro Sports
A new report has exposed NFL teams’ collusion with the NFL Players Association to keep extremely valuable information from players.
According to certain findings, the NFLPA colluded with the NFL to cover up previous collusion after team owners made a collective decision on quarterback contract negotiations following the Cleveland Brown’s decision to hand Deshaun Watson a record sum of guaranteed money.
An arbitrator ruled back in January that the NFLPA proved “by a clear preponderance of the evidence” that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s general counsel, Jeff Pash, advised owners to restrict guaranteed money in players’ contracts after Watson secured his mega-deal in 2022.
EXCLUSIVE: Did a text calling Russell Wilson a "wuss" lead to the cover-up of NFL owners colluding against players?@PabloTorre and Mike Florio (@ProFootballTalk) reveal the secret document that billionaires and union execs don't want you to see: https://t.co/qEkxrqNmjB pic.twitter.com/40eTsaUwT3
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) June 24, 2025
This would have been some news to the ears of players in the league, but they apparently never got it, as the NFL entered into a confidentiality agreement with the NFLPA to withhold those details.
It only came out after Pablo Torre got his hands on and then published the 61-page document.
“It’s clear the arbitrator confirmed teams colluded against guaranteed money — something we, as agents, have known they have done since the advent of free agency,” NFL agent Peter Schaffer informed ProFootballTalk.com back in June.
A senior NFLPA official told ESPN it will fulfill its “obligation to enforce the CBA and our commitment to protecting our players’ interests.”
However, they failed to explain why it took them six months to do what they were supposed to do.
“As the head of the union, Lloyd [Howell Jr.] has an obligation to protect the best interests of the players,” Peter Ginsberg, an attorney who has represented many NFL players over the years, said.
“By agreeing to a confidentiality agreement, the union purposefully blocked the players from receiving crucial information about the operations of the NFL. The NFL and the union should not be conspiring together to keep important information from the players.”
It has long been thought that NFL teams colluded over agreeing to guarantees. Teams were just accused of conspiring to have Shedeur Sanders slip through several rounds of the draft.
People who thought that came into play when he fell to the fifth round probably can’t be convinced otherwise right now.
