NFL player leaders "could begin voting" as soon as tomorrow on whether to retain NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith "without allowing challengers for the position," according to sources cited by Mark Maske of the WASHINGTON POST. The vote is to be "taken among players serving on a 14-member selection committee, under voting procedures established" by the NFLPA following Smith's most recent reelection in '15. It is "not known when the process will be completed and Smith's status will be resolved, given that it could take more than one round of voting to determine that, or what the NFLPA will announce publicly regarding the voting results." If all 14 members "vote to keep Smith as executive director, he will be retained followed by the players' ruling executive committee negotiating a new contract with him." If seven to 13 members vote to keep Smith, the issue "moves before the players' team-by-team union representatives." If "at least two-thirds of those player reps vote to retain Smith, he keeps the job and the executive committee works out a new contract with him." If six or fewer members of the 14-person selection committee vote to retain Smith, the job "will be declared open." That same outcome "will occur if the matter goes to the team-by-team player reps and Smith fails to secure the necessary two-thirds support." If the job is "declared open, the selection committee will then identify two to four candidates for an election to be held in March via a majority vote of the player reps." Smith's current three-year term "ends in March." He has held the job since '09 and "led the players through a lockout in advance" in '11. DC-based attorney Cyrus Mehri has already "announced his intention to run against Smith" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/17).
