NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith is “growing weary of increasing drama within the union hierarchy and could opt to leave,” according to Mike Freeman of CBSSPORTS.com. The NFLPA Exec Committee “might speak via conference call this week, and one of the main talking points could be the $1 million bonus Smith is scheduled to earn.” If Smith “gets the bonus he stays,” but if the committee “balks ... he leaves and the union is thrown into chaos.” Freeman wrote Smith is “trying to change the union culture, make it more professional, and he's being met with resistance from some players who don't want change and resent his attempts.” In addition, Smith's idea “has been to make the union resemble a more efficient corporate structure instead of its current model,” and some players “have resisted those efforts.” Free agent G Chester Pitts, who served as the Seahawks' player rep during the NFL CBA negotiations, “remembers that players told Smith that if he got the deal done, he'd get the bonus.” Pitts: "It was a promise to him" (CBSSPORTS.com, 12/19). PRO FOOTBALL TALK’s Mike Florio wrote players “continue to be upset with Smith for several details that were overlooked in the eleventh hour of the negotiations, including the handling of players who violated the personal conduct policy and players who violated the substance-abuse policy in the days after the lockout ended.” The open-ended agreement to submit to HGH testing also “has upset more than a few players” (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 12/19).
