NFLPA's JC Tretter resigns after backlash against candidacy to replace executive director Lloyd Howell

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J.C. Tretter was the other name scrutinized in the backlash that led to NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell resigning. He's headed out too now.

The former Cleveland Browns center, who was working as the union's chief strategy officer after two terms as president during his playing days, told CBS Sports on Sunday he is taking himself out of the running for the interim executive director position and resigning from the union, citing the impact on his family.

He did so after it was reported he was in a two-man race for interim executive director alongside NFLPA chief player officer Don Davis.

From CBS Sports:

"I'm not resigning because what I've been accused of is true. ... I'm not resigning in disgrace. I'm resigning because this has gone too far for me and my family, and I've sucked it up for six weeks. And I felt like I've been kind of left in the wind taking shots for the best of the organization," he said.

"… I got to the point this morning where I woke up and I realized, like, I am going to keep dying on this f—ing sword forever of, I'll never, ever be able to do what's best for me. And I will always pick what's best for the organization. And in the end, what's the organization done for me? Like, nothing.

Tretter played a central role in Howell's hire, which has been increasingly questioned after it was reported the players might have known about a sexual discrimination lawsuit against him at his previous employer and that he had a massive conflict of interest as a Carlyle Group consultant. It was also revealed last week that a grievance successfully brought by the NFL against Tretter was covered up.

The news that Tretter might have replaced Howell when the vote went to the players was met with disbelief and criticism from some former players, many of whom worked in NFLPA leadership or as player representatives. A text message was also reportedly being distributed among players railing against him as "the common denominator in all these scandals."

Promoting Tretter to executive director would have represented an endorsement of the NFLPA's leadership in recent years, and it has become very clear that would be a hard sell.

The NFLPA has had a very bad month

The controversy began last month when Pablo Torre and Mike Florio reported that the NFL and NFLPA buried a ruling on a collusion grievance that saw an arbitrator conclude that the league encouraged its teams to reduce guaranteed money in 2022 after Deshaun Watson's unprecedented, fully guaranteed contract.

The NFL actually won the grievance because the arbitrator, Christopher Droney, concluded he could not establish a "clear preponderance" that NFL teams acted on that advice, but he still left a damning sentence on page 55 of a 61-page document:

“There is little question that the NFL Management Council, with the blessing of the Commissioner, encouraged the 32 NFL Clubs to reduce guarantees in veterans’ contracts at the March 2022 annual owners’ meeting.”

The NFL's reason for hiding that conclusion is obvious. It validates many critics' portrayals of a league willing to color outside the lines to suppress player compensation in any way it can get away with.

What was less clear was why the NFLPA agreed with the NFL that the public, and more notably the players, didn't need to see that a neutral observer concluded its main adversary was acting in such a way. Questions abounded for Howell and the rest of the union's leadership, and it got worse as the weeks went on.

After Howell finally resigned Thursday, it was reported Friday he had been discovered to have expensed more than $3,000 at strip clubs. The NFLPA has never been anywhere close to the most prestigious or effective player union in sports, but the latest developments were beyond the pale enough for many that Tretter couldn't escape the backlash either.

JC Tretter compares himself to a 'Game of Thrones' character while defending decisions

In a lengthy interview with CBS, Tretter defended himself on many of the above contentions, most notably the notion that he pushed Howell into the executive director role from the shadows.

Howell was one of two finalists, alongside former SAG-AFTRA director David White. Tretter said that while Howell performed better in interviews, the NFLPA executive committee voted 10-1 in favor of White over Howell, with Tretter among the 10. However, the committee did not share its preference with the board of 32 player representatives, who voted for Howell.

Tretter said her expects there will be changes to the approval process in the next go-around.

From CBS Sports:

"We did hundreds of hours of work, and we did multiple rounds of interviews. We had people flying into D.C. regularly to meet candidates in person. I don't think it's feasible to do that for everybody," he explained. "… The executive committee is in the day-to-day of it. The board has the approval rights.

"It's a fair question. I think that's something that the board and the [executive committee] and the players need to wrestle with as they launch the next search is like, 'How is it set up?' I'm not saying we did everything right. I think we made decisions based off what we had done historically and wanted to do something different and thought what we were doing was the best option. We've learned more since then. There are probably going to be changes. There should be changes. They should do something that they feel confident in and they should learn from every experience they have."

Tretter also said he regretted the quote that led to the covered-up NFL grievance, calling it a "dumb tongue-in-cheek remark" and denied having any access to the collusion grievance Howell agreed with the NFL to keep secret.

Overall, Tretter had a comparison for his role in all this: Tyrion Lannister. Let's hear him out:

Tretter has been thinking about one specific scene from "Game of Thrones" over the last few weeks. Tyrion Lannister is on trial for killing his nephew, King Joffrey, and though he didn't commit the murder, he says that he wished he had.

"I wish I was the monster you think I am," Lannister says at his trial.

"I felt a lot of that over the last six weeks," Tretter said Sunday. "I'm being accused of being this all-controlling, all-powerful person, and I'm not. And I f—ing wish I was because I don't think we'd be in the same place we are now if I was.