The NFLPA may be engaged in a little CYA.
Two weeks after Pablo Torre Finds Out (and I helped) peeled back the curtain on the outcome of a collusion grievance that both the NFL and NFL Players Association had buried for more than five months, the NFLPA made a decision.
According to Don Van Natta Jr. and Kalyn Kahler of ESPN.com, “the NFLPA, led by executive director Lloyd Howell Jr., decided to seek an appeal of the ruling” on Tuesday night.
That information came from an unnamed senior union source, who told ESPN.com this: “The appeal is a reflection of our obligation to enforce the CBA and our commitment to protecting our players’ interests. We’ll do what’s best for players and we’ll exhaust our options in doing so.”
Officially, the union declined to answer questions from ESPN.com about the lag in the filing of an appeal. The NFL also declined comment to ESPN.com on the matter.
Beyond the obvious question of whether the union would have made the decision to appeal the ruling but for PTF/PFT/O reporting on the existence of the previously secret ruling is whether the NFLPA has blown the deadline for filing an appeal. The decision was issued on January 14, 2025. Article 15 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which sets forth the procedures conducted by a System Arbitrator, has a clear — and short — deadline for activating the internal appeal process.
From Article 15, Section 8(a): “Any party seeking to appeal (in whole or in part) an award of the System Arbitrator must serve on the other party and file with the System Arbitrator a notice of appeal within ten (10) days of the date of the award appealed from.”
Obviously, more than 10 days have passed since January 14.
It’s possible that the side deal the league and the union struck to keep the ruling secret preserved the 10-day window for filing a notice of appeal. Under such an agreement, which may or may not exist, the 10-day clock would potentially not begin to tick until both sides jointly released the full and official ruling. (They still have not done that.)
It’s also possible, in theory, that the union filed a notice of appeal in order to preserve the ability to pursue the full appeal. In most appellate procedures, however, filing a notice of appeal isn’t an open-ended placeholder. It’s the activation of a formal sequence of events culminating in a full-blown appeal.
Regardless, the union will be appealing a decision that the union had previously kept secret. It seems inevitable that the NFL and/or the NFLPA will be releasing the full, official text of the decision.
