NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. resigns amid scrutiny of players' union, conflicts

Pat Leonard, New York Daily News on Jul 18, 2025

Published in Football

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NEW YORK — NFL players’ union executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned in a statement late Thursday night after heavy scrutiny of the NFLPA’s recent activity revealed Howell to be unfit for the role.

Howell and the union had struck a confidentiality agreement with the NFL to hide the details of a damning January arbitration ruling on collusion from players. The ruling showed that NFL executives had urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation.

The arbitrator still determined there was insufficient evidence of collusion by owners in contract negotiations with quarterbacks, but the decision is now being belatedly appealed. The arbitration ruling was first reported by the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast and further detailed by ESPN.

The immediate consequence of this information coming to light was an increased spotlight on Howell, the former chief financial officer of the technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. And that led to Howell’s resignation only 749 days after his June 28, 2023 election.

He was done in by a combination of conflicts of interest and dirty laundry.

Last week, ESPN reported that Howell was working as a paid, part-time consultant for the Carlyle Group, one of the league-approved private equity firms seeking ownership in NFL teams. Howell reportedly was asked by a union lawyer to consider resigning for conflict-of-interest reasons, but he remains a consultant to the Carlyle Group.

And earlier Thursday, ESPN reported that Howell was sued for sexual discrimination and retaliation in 2011 while he was a senior executive at Booz Allen and that a dispute emerged about whether the players who voted for him as NFLPA executive director were aware of that lawsuit prior to his 2023 election.

Ultimately, a lack of transparency surrounded Howell’s election to succeed former union executive director DeMaurice Smith, who had served since 2009. Then a lack of transparency with the player membership spurred his resignation.

In May, ESPN reported that the FBI was investigating the financial dealings of the NFLPA and the MLB Players Association related to a multibillion-dollar group-licensing firm, OneTeam Partners. And that report triggered the NFLPA to hire Ronald C. Machen of law firm Wilmer Hale to review Howell’s activities as executive director.

Now he no longer holds that title, although his resignation involved little accountability in owning his mistakes and instead blamed the “distraction” his leadership had caused.

“Two years ago, I accepted the role of executive director of the NFLPA because I believe deeply in the mission of this union and the power of collective action to drive positive change for the players of America’s most popular sport,” Howell said in the statement he released Thursday night. “Our members deserve a union that will fight relentlessly for their health, safety, financial futures, and long-term well-being. My priority has been to lead that fight by serving this union with focus and dedication.”

“It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day,” he continued. “For this reason, I have informed the NFLPA executive committee that I am stepping down as executive director of the NFLPA and chairman of the board of NFL Players effective immediately. I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season.”

Howell added that he is “proud of what we have been able to accomplish at the NFLPA over the past two years.”

“I will be rooting for the players from the sidelines as loud as ever,” he said, “and I know the NFLPA will continue to ensure that players remain firmly at the center of football’s future.”

Howell’s resignation does not put a stop to scrutiny of the NFLPA’s processes, however. The union’s handling of the collusion arbitration ruling requires a thorough examination and recommitment of the NFLPA’s intentions in its representation of players, regardless of the name on the top of the masthead.

That includes the past and current leadership of the players’ executive committee, from former Browns center and NFLPA president JC Tretter to current player president Jalen Reeves-Maybin, a free-agent linebacker formerly of the Detroit Lions.

Howell isn’t the only union official who is out this week, in fact. The NFLPA fired jointly appointed arbitrator Sidney Moreland this week.

Moreland ruled against the union in February, saying Tretter had violated the CBA by suggesting that disgruntled players should fake injuries. That ruling was made public by the reporting of ProFootballTalk and “Pablo Torre Finds Out.”

So it’s possible the fallout has only just begun.