Report: NFLPA executive director ballot has five candidates
Five candidates are vying for the NFL Players Association executive director’s position, reports NFL.com’s Albert Breer.
According to the report, current executive director DeMaurice Smith, former NFL player Sean Gilbert, attorney Andrew Smith, former three-star Navy Admiral and punter John Stufflebeem, and attorney Arthur McAfee have all expressed interest in the job and are on the ballot.
Each candidate must have letters of endorsement from three of the 32 player representatives in order to be nominated, and those letters must be presented to the president of the players union, Cincinnati Bengals tackle Eric Winston. The nomination deadline is Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Bleacher Report previously reported that Stufflebeem said he would not receive enough nominations to get on the ballot.
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The vote will take place on March 15, and a simple majority vote will win the election for a candidate.
[daily_cut.nfl]Smith said he is running for the position because “the players who put their health and well-being on the line, while driving the NFL’s explosive revenue growth and cultural popularity, are not receiving their fair share of the profits.”
Gilbert has said that he wants the current Collective Bargaining Agreement thrown out, saying he has evidence that the NFL violated terms of the document. He has also criticized DeMaurice Smith, claiming he “has lack of institutional football knowledge.”
Stufflebeem, a former Detroit Lions punter, was demoted and fired from his post as director of the Navy staff in 2008 after misleading investigators about an inappropriate relationship he had two decades before.
McAfee has served as Staff Counsel for the NFLPA and was a former player agent for IMG.
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