Players may vote soon on NFLPA leader

NFL player leaders could begin voting as soon as Tuesday on whether to retain DeMaurice Smith as executive director of the union without allowing challengers for the position, according to people familiar with the election procedures.

The initial vote on Smith’s status is to be taken among players serving on a 14-member selection committee, under voting procedures established by the NFL Players Association following Smith’s most recent reelection in 2015. It is not known when the process will be completed and Smith’s status will be resolved, given that it could take more than one round of voting to determine that, or what the NFLPA will announce publicly regarding the voting results.

Under the election procedures, outlined in documents previously obtained by The Washington Post, the NFLPA established the selection committee that includes Eric Winston, the veteran offensive lineman who serves as the union’s president, and others among the NFLPA’s senior leadership.

If all 14 members of the selection committee vote to keep Smith, he will be retained followed by the players’ ruling executive committee negotiating a new contract with him. If seven to 13 members of the selection committee vote to keep Smith, the issue moves before the players’ team-by-team union representatives. If at least two-thirds of those player reps vote to retain Smith, he keeps the job and the executive committee works out a new contract with him.

If six or fewer members of the 14-member selection committee vote to retain Smith, the job will be declared open. That same outcome will occur if the matter goes to the team-by-team player reps and Smith fails to secure the necessary two-thirds support. If the job is declared open, the selection committee will then identify two to four candidates for an election to be held in March via a majority vote of the player reps.

Smith has met with the selection committee, according to people with knowledge of the process. Under the election procedures, that meeting was to have taken place by Friday. The voting procedures give Smith two weeks after that meeting to officially inform the selection committee whether he wants to continue as executive director. The voting by the players is to occur by Oct. 15 and, under the election procedures, can take place in person, by phone or via ballot.

Smith’s current three-year term ends in March. He has held the job since 2009, being reelected in 2012 and 2015, and led the players through a lockout in advance of the league’s 2011 labor deal. He faced eight challengers in his 2015 re-election bid, when there were few procedural restrictions to candidates entering the race for his position. That led to the new election procedures, with NFLPA representatives having told others within the league that their intention was to streamline the process and prevent unqualified candidates from entering.