The NFL Players Association lost its executive director last July. The search for a new executive director is ongoing, and the NFLPA is saying nothing about it.
“That’s something that we’re keeping pretty confidential,” NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin said during the union’s Super Bowl-week press conference. “I’ll say that we’ve been working through the process with our search committee. As you know, we’ve hired TurnkeyZRG as our search firm, and they’ve done a great job of helping us through this process and sourcing candidates for us. There’s no final deadline or date set for anything yet, but the process is moving forward, and we’re pleased with how it’s being handled.”
As to the question of whether interim executive director David White will be a candidate for the permanent job, Reeves-Maybin said this: “The executive committee has not let David know whether to be a candidate or not yet, so that’s something that’ll come forward in the future, but that’s where we are now.”
On Monday, the NFLPA said there are no new updates regarding the search process and pointed to the comments from the press conference.
The union’s official position is balanced against a general expectation that, when the NFLPA conducts its annual meeting next month, the session will include the selection of a new executive director. Some believe White, who was a finalist for the job when Howell was hired, will be a serious candidate if not the winner.
Regardless, the union is proceeding with a high level of secrecy. That same approach was utilized when Howell was hired. Given the outcome of the Howell experiment, it’s fair to ask whether the NFLPA should employ a greater degree of transparency — especially with the members of the union.
The Board of Player Representatives ultimately will vote on the next executive director. The members of the board are the voice of the players on their teams. If the players don’t know enough about the candidates, how can they even begin to share with their elected representatives any meaningful opinions as to which candidate is the right person to lead the union?
That’s a question players should be asking of their team representatives, and of current union leadership.
