Amid scrutiny, Lloyd Howell out as NFLPA govt director

NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned late Thursday, ending his embattled two-year tenure as the leader of the union.

“It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day,” Howell, 59, said in a statement released by the union. “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.”

Sources told ESPN that Howell resigned on his own and surprised some members of the NFLPA’s 10-person executive committee, which had selected the former chief financial officer of technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton as a finalist for the top job after a 16-month search shrouded in secrecy.

Howell’s tenure had come under scrutiny after several recent reports from ESPN and the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast.

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. According to sources, the report triggered the NFLPA to hire Ronald C. Machen of law firm Wilmer Hale to review Howell’s activities as executive director. The FBI investigation, which is being conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York, is continuing, sources said.

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 was asked by a union lawyer to consider resigning for conflict-of-interest reasons, a source said, but another source said he’d do his “due diligence” before making a decision. He remains as a consultant to the Carlyle Group.

ESPN also reported last week that Howell struck a confidentiality agreement with the NFL six months ago that hid from players the details of a January arbitration decision, including a finding that league executives urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation. The 61-page ruling was first published by the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast on June 24.

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.

As recently as late Wednesday, two executive board members still gave a ringing endorsement to Howell’s leadership in an interview with ESPN.

“We felt great about the process,” one of them said. “We are 100 percent behind Lloyd.”

And Sunday, the executive committee backed Howell in a message sent to membership, saying it had “established a deliberate process to carefully assess the issues that have been raised and will not engage in a rush to judgement.”

Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the executive committee was in touch with player membership, and the board of player representatives was expected to meet as soon as possible to figure out the next steps, which could include naming an interim executive director.

Howell succeeded DeMaurice Smith as the head of the NFLPA, which represents nearly 2,000 pro football players. Smith was head of the union from 2009 to 2023. Before Smith, the union was led by Gene Upshaw.