NFL won grievance against NFLPA over fake injuries in February, denies it concealed ruling

New York Times

6 days ago

An arbitrator in February ruled in favor of the NFL after it filed a grievance in 2023 accusing the NFL Players Association of advising players to fake injuries as a contract-negotiation tactic, according to a document with the rulings obtained by The Athletic. It's the second arbitration ruling to come to light in the past month, following the exposure of a collusion decision kept hidden from players in a confidentiality agreement.
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The original fake injury grievance stemmed from a comment former union president and current NFLPA chief strategy officer JC Tretter made in which he suggested players could fake injuries to sit out of practice while seeking a new contract.
'I don't think anybody would say they fake injuries, but we've seen players who didn't want to be where they currently are, have injuries that made them unable to practice and play, but you're not able to get fined, and you're not able to be punished for not reporting,' Tretter said in a July 2023 appearance on 'The Ross Tucker Football Podcast.' '… I don't think I'm allowed to ever recommend that, at least publicly, but I think each player needs to find a way to build up leverage to try to get a fair deal.'
The NFL filed a grievance less than two months later, and the decision was reached on Feb. 20. In it, non-injury grievance arbitrator Sidney Moreland determined Tretter's comments violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which states, 'The NFL and NFLPA will use their best efforts to see that the terms and conditions of all NFL Player Contracts are carried out in full by the players.' The ruling also points to Article 3, Section 1, of the CBA, which says 'neither the NFLPA nor any of its members will engage in any strike, work stoppage or other concerted action interfering with the operation of the NFL or any Club.'
In a statement shared Thursday, the NFL said: 'The Arbitrator upheld the Management Council's grievance in its entirety and found that Mr. Tretter's statements violated the CBA by improperly encouraging players to fake injury. As a result, he prohibited Mr. Tretter and the union from such conduct in the future. The NFL did not allege that any individual player ever feigned injury. We are grateful for the arbitrator's thorough review of the evidence and order enforcing the CBA.'
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The NFLPA had no comment on the ruling.
This grievance decision had not been publicly acknowledged before Thursday, when Pablo Torre of 'Pablo Torre Finds Out' and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported the news. However, the NFL confirmed to The Athletic it presented the results of the grievance to ownership and club personnel at March league meetings in Palm Beach, Fla.
'Coaches and GMs were briefed on the decision and its impact during a session the first day of the meetings. Ownership was told in a separate meeting,' the league stated.
A source familiar with the situation confirmed Moreland had been fired from his arbitrator role this week, news first reported by Sportico. That role is jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA, and Article 43 of the CBA states the NFL or NFLPA can dismiss any arbitrator each year within the 10-day window of July 10-20.
Earlier this month, ESPN reported — and a union source confirmed — the NFLPA had a confidentiality agreement with the NFL that hid information in an arbitration decision that found league executives pushed team ownership to reduce guaranteed player compensation. In January, an arbitrator ruled there was not enough evidence of collusion around salaries, but thanks to the confidentiality agreement, the full 61-page report from the arbitrator ruling was not made available until it was published on a June 24 episode of the 'Pablo Torres Finds Out' podcast.
The collusion ruling was reached one month before the fake injury grievance decision.