NFLPA chief officer JC Tretter to resign amid union overhaul

NFLPA chief strategy officer JC Tretter is resigning from his position and has withdrawn himself from consideration for the NFLPA’s interim executive director position.

“Over the last couple days, it has gotten very, very hard for my family. And that’s something I can’t deal with,” Tretter told CBS Sports on Sunday. “So, the short bullet points are: I have no interest in being [executive director]. I have no interest in being considered. I’ve let the executive committee know that. I’m also going to leave the NFLPA in the coming days because I don’t have anything left to give the organization.”

Tretter, 34, had been in the role since October 2024. He was the player president from 2020 to 2024 and reportedly was a candidate to serve as the interim executive director after Lloyd Howell’s resignation last Thursday night.

Several former NFL players reacted to Tretter’s candidacy with public criticism on social media.

“We’ve gotta be the dumbest Union in all of sports,” former linebacker Will Compton posted on X early Sunday. “Ya — let’s vote for the guy who was in charge of hiring Lloyd Howell. Lets vote for the guy who swept a lot of s— under the rug when NFL owners were colluding to not give out guaranteed contracts. The NFLPA is constantly outmatched and it’s truly our own doing.”

“They would be wise to remove Tretter as well,” former player and NFLPA executive committee member Ben Watson posted Saturday.

Tretter was the NFLPA’s player president in 2023 when Howell was elected as the union’s executive director. Tretter presided over a vote that changed the NFLPA’s constitution to make the search and election process more confidential. He led the 16-month search process that resulted in Howell, whose leadership had come under question in recent weeks after reports from the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast and ESPN over matters that included a controversial confidentiality agreement with the NFL and Howell’s strip club expenses.

In 2022, the NFLPA sued the owners, alleging that they were colluding to prevent guaranteed contracts. In 2023, the NFL sued the union over Tretter’s comments that suggested that running backs who were unhappy with their contracts could fake injuries — a violation of the collective bargaining agreement. Both grievances were decided this year, and both decisions were not shared publicly by either the NFL or the NFLPA. ESPN reported that the NFLPA and the NFL had a confidentiality agreement for the collusion grievance that hid the information within the 61-page decision.

In an interview with CBS Sports, Tretter denied having access to the collusion grievance or being involved in the agreement struck by the union and the league to keep those findings confidential to a select group of executives.

The NFLPA’s board of player representatives will meet Sunday night to discuss candidates for interim director, a source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN. NFLPA chief player officer Don Davis, executive director of the NFLPA trust Zamir Cobb and NFLPA associate general counsel Ned Ehrlich are among the candidates who will be discussed.

The board of representatives also will discuss the selection process for the next executive director, including whether the executive committee or the interim director will lead that task.