The campaign is over before it even really began.
The NFL Players Association selection committee has unanimously determined to keep DeMaurice Smith as the executive director, consistent with a process that the union adopted to avoid the 10-candidate clusterfudge that unfolded in 2015. The 14-member selection committee could have determined to open the job up for a full election/selection process, with a small handful of candidates possibly being certified to run.
Lawyer Cyrus Mehri recently emerged as the primary challenger, mounting an aggressive effort to line up endorsements and generate interest. And while Mehri may complain that the process was in some way #rigged, the members of the committee were fully aware of his interest in the job, but they decided to stick with De Smith. Right or wrong, that’s their decision to make -- just like it’s the decision of the owners to stick with Roger Goodell as Commissioner.
The next step for the union should be to extended Smith’s contract not by three years but by five, since a three-year contract would expire just as the current labor deal is set to terminate.