After a month of controversy, Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned from his post as the NFL Players Association executive director on Thursday night, effective immediately. “It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day,” Howell wrote in a statement announcing his decision. “I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season.”
Statement from Lloyd Howell Jr. pic.twitter.com/levOYblG2T
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) July 18, 2025
Howell's resignation comes after recent reports revealed that the NFLPA had entered into a confidentiality agreement with the league to hide information about an arbitration agreement involving a collusion claim dealing with league executives, who had pushed team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation. Back in January, the case's arbitrator ruled that this was not sufficient enough evidence of collusion, though the NFLPA has announced plans to appeal the ruling.
In the wake of the controversy, renewed interest has been paid to the NFLPA leadership, and Howell specifically, over concerns about his part-time consultant role with the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that does business with the NFL. And while Howell, the NFLPA legal team, and the Carlyle Group have always maintained that this did not represent a conflict of interest, there has been enough smoke to warrant suspicion.
According to reporting by The Athletic, the NFLPA executive board will meet over the next few days for next steps and to determine an interim executive director.
