In a 4:58 a.m. ET response to the email from P.R. executive Liz Allen to all NFLPA staff, with a “cc” to general counsel Tom DePaso and NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Jones raised the question that we later addressed here.

All 32 NFL player reps were on a call last night to discuss the next NFLPA executive director. It’s shaping up to be a two-man race: JC Tretter, who has majority support, and Don Davis. There’s other names, but these are the lead candidates, per sources.

While the grievance decision had not been reported publicly before Thursday, the league says it informed teams at its March league meeting.

In the same week that the ruling emerged in the grievance sparked by the efforts of former NFL Players Association president JC Tretter to suggest that disgruntled players should fake injuries, the NFLPA has exercised its prerogative to discharge the arbitrator who ruled against the union.

JC Tretter's time as NFLPA president has included a divisive CBA vote and an onslaught of coronavirus challenges. That hasn't stopped him from pushing for more.

None of the actions that have come to light through recent reporting indicate a healthy union with the players' interests at the core of its cause.

Thursday night’s news that NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell has resigned isn’t necessarily the end. It’s possibly the beginning of a two-step process that will result in the NFLPA severing ties with the man most identified with the hiring of Howell in the first place.