Former NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. resigns from The Carlyle Group

As Lloyd Howell Jr. resigns from the NFL Players Association amid rising criticism, punters may want to focus on the union’s leadership dynamics and how they could affect player negotiations, potentially increasing the likelihood of contract disputes during upcoming seasons.

Former NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned from his role at The Carlyle Group, a spokesperson confirmed to The Athletic on Monday. The spokesperson did not give details as to when or why Howell resigned. ESPN first reported the news.

On Thursday, Howell resigned from his role with the NFLPA amid rising criticism over the union’s leadership and concerns about a potential conflict of interest involving Howell and his involvement with The Carlyle Group.

As reported by ESPN on July 10, Howell worked as a paid, part-time consultant to The Carlyle Group since March 2023, three months before he was elected NFLPA executive director. He stayed in the role even after the NFL approved private equity minority investors, including The Carlyle Group, in August 2024.

Two sources with knowledge of the NFLPA’s hiring process told The Athletic that union leadership was aware of Howell’s work with the firm during the hiring process. One year later, when the firm had the opportunity to invest in the NFL, four sources with knowledge of the situation said discussions about Howell’s role occurred and lawyers for the NFLPA and The Carlyle Group decided Howell’s work in the aerospace and defense division was distant enough from the group‘s work with the NFL.

An NFLPA source with knowledge of the situation disputed details in the ESPN report, which stated that an NFLPA attorney had requested that Howell consider resigning from his role with The Carlyle Group while still serving as executive director of the NFLPA. Three other sources said they had not heard of an NFLPA lawyer making that request to Howell.

Reporting from ESPN, Pro Football Talk and “Pablo Torre Finds Out” uncovered layers of dysfunction within union leadership within the past month, including findings that the NFLPA reached a confidentiality agreement with the NFL to hide information about an arbitration decision involving potential collusion over guaranteed contracts.

In a statement announcing his resignation from the NFLPA, Howell said: “It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day.”

JC Tretter, former NFLPA chief strategy officer and a frontrunner to take over as interim executive director, resigned from the organization on Sunday. In an interview published by CBS, Tretter said he did not want to be considered for the interim job, nor be a part of the NFLPA.

A source briefed on the procedure said the NFLPA executive board still plans to meet in the coming days to determine a process for selecting an interim executive director.

The former executive director, who resigned from the NFLPA on Thursday, also stepped down from his position with The Carlyle Group.

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