JC Tretter, NFLPA president, welcomes the heavy responsibility of protecting the league's 2,000 players during the coronavirus pandemic. (nytimes.com)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland
The Browns are the smartest organization in the NFL. At least, on paper.
They have more Ivy League sheepskin hanging in their board room than the Brookings Institution.
By now, Browns fans know the leaders of owner Jimmy Haslam’s corporate Think Tank.
There’s Paul DePodesta, chief strategy officer, of Harvard (AB economics, 1995).
There’s Andrew Berry, executive vice president of football operations and general manager, of Harvard (AB economics and MS computer science, 2009).
There’s Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, vice president of football operations, of Princeton (BA economics, 2003) and Stanford (MA economics, 2013).
There’s Kevin Stefanski, head coach, of Penn (BA communications, 2004).
These are the suits who run the football organization, crunch the algorithms, manage the $198 million-plus player payroll and coach the team.
But the players have their own Ivy Leaguer in this mix, too.
He is a fierce player-advocate and a dedicated leader who might be more important in this coronavirus season than any of the others. He is JC Tretter, center, of Cornell (BS industrial and labor relations, 2013), and reigning president of the NFL Players Association.
Be careful of what you ask for
When Tretter beat out Tampa Bay linebacker Sam Acho and Giants safety Michael Thomas in an election in a Ritz Carlton resort in Key Biscayne, FL, to become the highest-ranking player in the union on March 10, the NFL was in the midst of a controversial negotiation for a new collective bargaining agreement.
Haggling over player safety v. additional league revenue created by expanded playoffs and a 17th regular-season game polarized the rank-and-file. Tretter was taking office at a turbulent time in the NFL.
One day later, NBA player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the novel coronavirus, shutting down all professional sports. Nothing inside the ivy-covered walls at Cornell could prepare Tretter for what lie ahead for him as leader of the NFL players union during a raging pandemic.
Tretter proceeded to spend countless hours on conference calls with medical experts, league officials and union reps to map out plans that would protect the league’s 2,000-plus players while owners tried to cut severe financial losses and conduct a football season. Tretter held Zoom calls with teammates and players from all over the league to hear and address concerns of their families about the dangers of Covid-19.
All the while, Tretter had to prepare as best he could for his seventh NFL season, fourth with the Browns.
At Cornell, Tretter aspired to be an NFL player agent. He picked a helluva year to run for president of the players union.
"I definitely do not regret running for president,” Tretter said in response to my question on a Zoom call on Wednesday. “I have really enjoyed the work. It is something I have been passionate about for a long time. It is something I went to school for, so it is something I have always been interested in. Obviously, it has been a busy offseason, but it has been a really great time kind of fighting for the players and trying to provide them as best of a workplace as possible.”
After hammering out a 10-year CBA with owners in March, Tretter and DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the union, had to forge a new pact to deal with the vast ramifications of training and playing in the midst of Covid-19. One of the key issues was the opt out, whereby players could elect to not to play in 2020, because of concerns or high-risk health factors, and still receive benefits from the league.
More than 60 players have chosen to opt out in advance of Thursday’s 4 p.m. deadline.
Some players chose to opt out – sacrificing millions of dollars in 2020 salary and bonuses for a bargained stipend of $150,000 or $350,000 – because their wife is expecting, or recently had, a baby.
Tretter’s incredible year started with his marriage in February. Now his wife is expecting their first child. Tretter thought about opting out, but will play on.
“I definitely consulted medical experts,” Tretter said. “I am staying at the [team] hotel right now. Just want to make sure everything is running properly and there are no outbreaks. I will stay here until I feel comfortable going back to my house.
“I think everybody has their own unique circumstances, needs to kind of sort through the information and gather more information and then just make the best decision on what they feel most comfortable with.”
Imagine the chill that would have descended on the rank-and-file if Tretter, the president of the union and the player most knowledgeable of the risks of playing amid Covid-19, would have opted not to play.
Further, Tretter arguably is one of the Browns’ most indispensable players. There is no center on the roster with NFL experience behind him. In 2018, he played eight games with a high ankle sprain despite not practicing during the week because there as no capable replacement.
I asked Tretter if his position as union president weighed in his decision.
“I do not think I look at it like that,” he said. “I think each person has to make their own individual decision. Each person’s scenario in life is different. We just wanted to provide them options to make that right decision and provide avenues to find what is best for them.”
Make the right decisions
While Tretter has to prepare himself to be ready for the coming season in a truncated training camp, just like any player, he also carries the responsibility of looking out for his 2,000 constituents as Covid-19 hovers like an ominous shelf cloud over the training camp and the coming season.
“I think my main goal is protecting the players,” Tretter said. “I think when you take on this job, that is your responsibility. You are protecting all the players within the league … making sure we put in the right protocols to keep them safe and monitoring to make sure everything is going right.
“Everybody involved in this situation has to make the right decisions. I know it is always going to be talked about – are the players making the right decisions? The coaches have to make the right decisions. The staff has to make the right decisions. The executives have to make the right decisions. Everybody who walks in that building, if they make wrong decisions outside of the facility, it impacts the people in that building and their families who they go home to. Everybody involved has to make the right decisions.”
With Tretter on the premises every day, monitoring and educating and leading, the Browns have no excuses for not adhering to protocols outside their building.
They owe it to themselves, their families, their teammates and to Tretter, who has been looking out for them since this pandemic changed everyone’s world.