At a time when the NFL and the NFLPA are squabbling over the question of whether an August 4 letter agreement allows eight repeat offenders to be disciplined for arrests and/or charges filed during the lockout, Bengals running back Cedric Benson has concluded that the NFLPA exposed him to the three-game suspension that he now faces by including him in the group of eight players who could be disciplined by the league.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Benson has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the NFLPA. Benson challenges the August 4 letter agreement on numerous grounds.
Apart from the obvious notion that the NFLPA wasn’t a union during the period of the lockout and thus had no ability to do anything on Benson’s behalf, Benson argues that he wasn’t an employee of any team during the lockout.
We’re also told that Benson didn’t even know about the August 4 letter agreement, and that the NFLPA failed to respond to efforts on his behalf to obtain information regarding the resolution of the application of the personal conduct policy to incidents occurring during the lockout.
And so the NFLPA is now facing legal challenges not only from retired players regarding the manner in which the labor dispute was resolved, but also from at least one current player.