The NFL filed a grievance against the NFL Players Association, asking the union to stop its annual team report cards and saying the exercise violates the collective bargaining agreement by airing public criticism of teams, according to documents obtained by ESPN.
The league claims the report cards, which poll players on various aspects of working conditions, violate a CBA clause that says NFL owners and the union must “use reasonable efforts to curtail public comments by club personnel or players which express criticism of any club, its coach, or its operation and policy,” according to an August letter from the league’s management council to NFLPA general counsel Tom DePaso that was obtained by ESPN.
This is how the NFL has operated for a long time. Put an innocuous bit of text in one section of the agreement, then use it for a wildly different reason than it was intended for and get the right judge to rule on the new interpretation. Remember when they gave Brady a 4 game ban? They admitted in court they had no evidence he actually did anything, then appealed to a 3 judge panel who ruled the CBA says they don’t need proof, they just need to prove they followed a process and can then ban for “actions detrimental to the league” even without evidence.