Pat McAfee goes scorched earth on NFLPA, calls for ‘dawg’ to run show after resignation scandal
Apparently, ex-NFLPA head Lloyd Howell Jr.’s actions were somewhat expected for someone in his position, according to Pat McAfee.
Howell resigned Thursday from his position as executive director of the NFL Players Association amid multiple controversies, and on Friday, he was reportedly exposed for charging the union for two strip club visits.
And while McAfee wasn’t on the air on Friday to discuss the fiasco, the former Colts punter took to X with his thoughts as someone with firsthand experience with the players association.
“I don’t know what it was exactly like before my time in the NFL,” McAfee wrote. “But I know that literally since a week after I got drafted, at my rookie symposium listening to [DeMaurice] Smith speak for the first time, all the way thru now… the NFLPA has been led by people who would much rather be known that they’re the heads of the NFLPA than actually work and act like they are the heads of the NFLPA.”
McAfee played eight seasons in the NFL, with his entire career being spent with Howell’s predecessor, Smith, as the head of the NFLPA.
McAfee also called out the egos of leadership.
“These dudes think they’re celebrities,” McAfee went on. “These dudes think they’re powerful. These dudes hire all of their friends and overpay them with the players’ money.
“Then these dudes flex while using and abusing all of the connections that the players and the league have worked their asses off their entire lives for… and act like sanctimonious heroes thru it all.”
There were multiple controversies pointed to as possible reasons for Howell’s resignation on Thursday, but ultimately, on Friday, ESPN reported the bombshell that Howell had been expensing strip club visits totaling over $3,000.
Now, the NFLPA must find Howell’s successor, and McAfee would like to see quite a switch-up in the role.
“The NFLPA needs a dawg that knows legitimate business and generating capital running the NFLPA,” he wrote. “We need people that have empathy for the players who play/played in the NFL and don’t just view them as an annual fee. We need creative negotiators, creators, and innovators.”