From the moment System Arbitrator Christopher Droney signed the bottom of a 61-page written decision in the landmark collusion case, both the NFL and the NFL Players Association kept it secret.
The secret was finally exposed today, thanks to Pablo Torre. The next question becomes why both sides zipped their lips over Droney’s decision?
Torre and I delved into the subject during the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out.
Although the NFL ultimately won, the NFL had every reason to keep the decision quiet. The case proved that the NFL tried to get its teams to collude. From the decision: “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.”
The NFL avoided what could have been multi-billion-dollar liability (more on that later) because Droney accepted the self-serving testimony of no fewer than eight owners that they didn’t heed the Management Council’s encouragement to collude. The document nevertheless includes more than enough evidence, in our view, on which a finding of actual collusion could have been based.
The best metaphor (or at least the best one my relaxed brain can come up with) is this: The league was caught with its hand in the cookie jar and with crumbs on its shirt. But because Droney didn’t actually see the league eating the cookies, he accepted as truthful their claim that they did not.
Keeping it secret had another benefit, which also will be discussed later. By hiding it for more than five months, the NFL may have prevented other potential victims of collusion (starting with quarterbacks who since 2023 have not received fully-guaranteed contracts) from pursuing a grievance of their own.
The far bigger question is why would the NFL Players Association not trumpet this ruling?
The union should have been shouting it from the rooftops. They’ve finally proved that which had been suspected for years — that the quarterly meetings are (as former NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith calls them) “collusion meetings.” The details are unprecedented, and the takeaway is unmistakable.
With the Deshaun Watson contract lighting the fire for fully-guaranteed contracts, the league needed to put it out. Quickly. And the league (through the Management Council, with the blessing of the Commissioner) grabbed a hose and started spraying.
Even though Droney ultimately failed to connect the dots and/or apply common sense (in my opinion), the union proved that the league WANTED the teams to collude. That’s a massive finding.
One reason to keep it secret deals with internal union politics. New executive director Lloyd Howell is viewed as a business person who can secure gains through negotiation, not litigation. Smith, who filed the collusion grievance, was the wartime consigliere. With a ruling that tends to prove Smith’s approach works, Howell has no reason to do a victory lap with the fruits of Smith’s brainchild.
That’s just a theory. And if it’s accurate, it’s a mistake. It doesn’t serve the interests of the players. And it may have slammed the door on the ability of other players to parlay this partial (but significant) victory into a case of their own.
The other potential explanation comes from the fact that former NFLPA president J.C. Tretter criticized in text messages then-Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson for failing to parlay the Watson contract into a fully-guaranteed contract of his own.
The decision refers to Tretter’s criticism of Wilson. As best Torre and I could determine, Tretter at a minimum referred to Wilson as a “wuss.” Tretter also said this, I was told: “Instead of being the guy that made guaranteed contracts the norm, he’s the guy that ruined it for everyone.”
As Torre has reported, the union kept the ruling quiet in part to protect Tretter. If the former union president and current NFLPA chief strategy officer has designs on becoming the executive director after Howell (and some think he does), it does not help Tretter’s cause to have been caught making pejorative remarks about a member of the union.
Of course, that cat is now out of the bag. And one of the big questions going forward is whether and to what extent the union’s failure to use the collusion ruling as a sword against the NFL will have practical consequences for current NFLPA leadership.
The Broncos announced an addition to their organization on Monday.
They have hired Daniel Brusilovsky as their new chief technology officer. Brusilovsky was previously the vice president of technology for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
In his role with the Broncos, Brusilovsky will be responsible for overseeing all technology services and systems for the Broncos’ facility and Empower Field at Mile High. He will also oversee the club’s technology strategy, operations and innovation as a member of the Broncos’ senior leadership team.
While with the Warriors, Brusilovsky helped develop the team’s app and he co-founded the consumer app imoji prior to moving into the sports world.
Twenty-four years after the Broncos christened their current stadium, they’re looking for a new one.
One possible location is the Burnham Yard site in Denver.
The Denver Post reports that the team is currently negotiating with Colorado governor Jared Polis regarding the 58-acre property, which previously served as a rail yard.
The state plans to sell the site, which it purchased four years ago for $50 million.
The Broncos are exploring other areas, including a 36-acre Denver Water campus within the broader Burnham Yard complex.
The team has been looking at stadium options since the Walton-Penner family bought the Broncos in 2022. Other possibilities include sites in Lone Tree and Aurora. The Broncos also could renovate their current stadium or build a new stadium on that site. Under that option, they’d need to find somewhere else to play while the current stadium is demolished and a new one is built.
The Broncos are dropping a cornerback from their roster to make room for another one.
Mike Klis of KUSA reports that the team has waived Tanner McCalister off of their 90-man roster. There was word on Tuesday that they team had agreed to terms with former UFL corner Mario Goodrich.
McCalister was undrafted in 2023 and spent his rookie season with the Browns. He played in three games and made two tackles before moving on to the Broncos as a future signing in January. He had one tackle in three games for Denver last season.
Goodrich played four games for the Eagles in 2023 and spent time with the Giants before his time in the UFL.
Broncos coach Sean Payton said recently that he thinks his team can have “a real good defense” this season. And he thinks quarterback Bo Nix will be one of the key beneficiaries of that.
Payton dismissed any talk that the Broncos should have put more emphasis this offseason on building an offense around Nix, saying that by building their defense they’ve put Nix in a better chance to win.
“We’re trying to put together the best team we can,” Payton said, via ESPN “And I hear what’s said and I understand the questions, but there are a lot of ways to help a young quarterback -- any quarterback. . . . . A good defense helps a quarterback.”
The Broncos prioritized defense in free agency by signing safety Talanoa Hufanga and linebacker Dre Greenlaw, and then they prioritized defense in the draft with first-round cornerback Jahdae Barron. Those players might not directly help Nix, but if Nix doesn’t have to play from behind because the defense is shutting down opposing offenses, that can only help the Broncos and their second-year quarterback.
