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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/cleo22270 on 2025-07-17 13:00:16+00:00.
Tretter appeared on The Ross Tucker Football Podcast and said this regarding the consternation from running backs as to their inability to get fairly paid: “I don’t think anybody would say they were fake injuries, but we’ve seen players who didn’t want to be where they currently are, have injuries that made them unable to practice and play, but you’re not able to get fined, and you’re not able to be punished for not reporting. So there are issues like that. I don’t think I’m allowed to ever recommend that, at least publicly, but I think each player needs to find a way to build up leverage to try to get a fair deal. And that’s really what all these guys are looking for, is to be compensated fairly.”
Less than two months later, the NFL filed a grievance regarding Tretter’s comments. In September 2024, we reported that a hearing would be happening soon.
In the interim, the NFLPA provided PFT this statement on Sunday: “As we said at the time, this grievance was ridiculous and without merit. The arbitrator since found no evidence that players faked injuries and the NFLPA does not encourage our members to do so.”
At first blush, the message from the NFLPA seemed to be that the NFLPA won.
The reality is that the NFLPA lost.
Said the NFL, in a Tuesday statement to PFT: “The Arbitrator upheld the Management Council’s grievance in its entirety and found that Mr. Tretter’s statements violated the CBA by improperly encouraging players to fake injury. As a result, he prohibited Mr. Tretter and the union from such conduct in the future. The NFL did not allege that any individual player ever feigned injury. We are grateful for the arbitrator’s thorough review of the evidence and order enforcing the CBA.”
The outcome of the February 20, 2025 decision was clear. Tretter’s comments, per Moreland, violated Article 2, Section 2 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which requires the parties to “use their best efforts to faithfully carry out the terms and conditions of this Agreement and to see that the terms and conditions of this Agreement are carried out in full by players and Clubs. The NFL and NFLPA will use their best efforts to see that the terms and conditions of all NFL Player Contracts are carried out in full by players.”
At the conclusion of the ruling, Moreland issued a cease-and-desist order to the NFLPA, preventing it from “violating Article 2 by communicating to its members, directly or indirectly, any suggestions of any conduct that would result in a violation of Article 3 of the [CBA]; and shall henceforth use their best efforts to faithfully carry out in full all the terms and conditions of the [CBA] and all NFL player contracts.”
So, yes, the union lost. And, yes, the union hid the ruling.
This time around, the NFLPA not issuing a press release or conducting a press conference is clear. But why would the NFL conceal it? The NFL won. Bigly. The NFL should have trumpeted the ruling or, at a minimum, leaked it to one of its various reporters whose paychecks are literally signed by the Commissioner.
Common sense suggests an obvious link between the NFLPA’s discretion as to the collusion ruling and the NFL’s discretion as to the fake-injury ruling. The NFLPA doesn’t hammer the NFL for getting its hand caught in the collusion cookie jar, and the NFL doesn’t hammer the NFLPA for the ruling arising from Tretter’s ill-advised comments about faking injuries.