According to a 61-page document obtained by podcaster Pablo Torre, the NFL management council encouraged teams to limit the amount of guaranteed money in contracts during a 2022 owners meeting.
As reported by Sports Illustrated, the move came with the blessing of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
According to Ryan Phillips of SI, the document is part of a 2022 lawsuit by the NFL Players Association alleging collusion by the NFL and its owners. The arbitrator in the case said there was "little question" the league encouraged teams to reduce guarantees, but there was not enough evidence to verify collusion took place.
Per SI, the ruling by the arbitrator reads:
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.
However, the evidence did not establish a clear preponderance that the Clubs agreed to do that or participated in such a scheme. There are many Clubs whose only connection to his proceeding is the attendance at the Owners’ meeting, and the expert evidence of aggregate and average changes in various measure of spending, guaranteed and otherwise, is not sufficient, even when considered with the other evidence presented, for the NFLPA to meet its standard of proof.
Torre and Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio discussed the revelations on the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out. The NFLPA sued in 2022, alleging that owners and the league violated the collective bargaining agreement by colluding and agreeing not to offer players fully guaranteed contracts. That came in the wake of the Cleveland Browns' stunning, fully guaranteed $230 million contract they awarded Deshaun Watson. The lawsuit sought damages for quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, and Lamar Jackson in the form of having their contracts voided.
Arbitrator Christopher Droney issued his ruling on Jan. 14, 2025, but it had not been made public before Torre did so.
The final section of the ruling gives Droney's reason for dismissal:
While the NFL Management Council encouraged the 32 members Clubs of the NFL to reduce guarantees in future contracts with players at the March 2022 annual meeting of the Club owners, the Clubs did not join in such a collusive agreement and did not act in accordance with one as to the three quarterbacks named in the initial arbitration demand or to other veteran players.
Accordingly, I dismiss the arbitration demands of the NFLPA in its entirety.
Wrote Phillips, "The ruling makes it sound like the league encouraged its teams to collude but there is no evidence a formal collusion agreement was reached."
