BroBible
In a bombshell new report from Pabo Torre on his podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” he reveals that the NFLPA worked with the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell to cover up a widespread collusion case.
Torre revealed that both the league and the players association agreed not to release a 61-page ruling by arbitrator Christopher Droney in the collusion grievance regarding guarantees in the contract of certain veteran players.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P42Wq3fmTYg
But Torre kept digging, and the results of the investigation are a black eye not only on the NFL but on the NFLPA as well.
“There is little question that the NFL Management Council, with the blessing of the Commissioner, encouraged the 32 NFL Clubs to reduce guarantees in veterans’ contracts at the March 2022 annual owners’ meeting,” arbitrator Christopher Droney determined in his ruling.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the meeting between Goodell and owners came shortly after the Cleveland Browns gave Deshaun Watson a five-year, fully guaranteed, $230 million contract. That deal came shortly after the NFLPA attempted, and failed, to negotiate fully guaranteed deals for all NFL players as part of the current collective bargaining agreement.
Despite Droney determining that Goodell did encourage teams and owners to collude to depress contract values, the NFL still won the hearing. Droney ruled that the NFL did prove by a “clear preponderance” of the evidence that teams accepted and acted on Goodell’s suggestion.
Additionally, Torre revealed on the new episode that NFPA president JC Tretter blamed Russell Wilson and his contract demands with the Denver Broncos for harming the NFLPA’s case for fully guaranteed contract.
‘Instead of being the guy that made guaranteed contracts the norm, he’s the guy that ruined it for everyone,” Tretter reportedly texted then NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith.
Torre also stated that Tretter referred to Wilson as a “wuss” as well as an expletive that Torre said he would not repeat.
Wilson reportedly asked for a seven-year, $50 million-per-year fully guaranteed contract following his trade to the Broncos, but later accepted a five-year, $245 million deal with less-than-complete guarantees. Tretter believed that Wilson should have held out for the fully guaranteed deal.
Less than a year later, Lamar Jackson signed a five-year, $260 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens. Reports suggested that Jackson was seeking a full guaranteed deal, but he later shot down those claims.
Tretter’s text messages came up as part of the arbitration hearing, and Torre posited that the text messages are why the NFLPA worked with the NFL to conceal the results of the hearing.
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