Two-time Super Bowl champion James Harrison, who spent 15 seasons in the league, is ready for a new role. For the second time in three months, the Pittsburgh Steelers legend expressed his interest in stepping into a representative role during a recent appearance on the Deebo & Joe Podcast.

“I’ll be looking forward to my nomination to be on the ballot for Executive Director of the NFLPA,” he said. “I thank you guys in advance, okay?” 

James Harrison desires to run for Executive Director of the NFL Players Association. He says he wants to completely change how the union works because he believes the current system, led by President Jalen Reeves-Maybin, is failing the players.

Unlike many who’d be chasing power, Harrison is chasing reform. His interest mainly lies in serving the players, not the league. And according to him, the NFLPA has too many people doing quite the opposite.

Apparently, the NFL won a grievance that bans the NFLPA from publicly sharing ‘Player Report Cards.’ These report cards were used to grade how teams treat their players, covering everything from the quality of the food to the behavior of the strength coaches.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

An arbitrator ruled that these grades ‘disparaged’ the teams, but Harrison sees this as the league trying to hide the truth and the union failing to protect its members’ voices. One of Harrison’s biggest complaints is about how leaders like the current President, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, are chosen in the first place. 

“The 11, I believe, can switch or may have to switch at times, depending on, like, how long they’ve played or not played. But of that, I’m not going to lie, I’m not actually 100% sure. But I know right now. Jaylen Reeves. Maven, he is the president of that organization right now. You don’t even know who the hell he is. You’ve never heard of him?. He was voted in by the 11 executive committee members who make those rulings. Like, no player voted him in. Now, here’s the bigger issue: no players get to vote. It’s just the 32,” he said during the podcast.

James Harrison argues that most players don’t even know who their president is because the voting is handled by a small group of representatives rather than the entire body of players. He feels the process is designed to keep a small circle in power, often involving outside search firms and committees that an average player has no contact with.

To fix this, Harrison is proposing a major change to who gets to vote on big deals like the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). He believes that only ‘vested’ players, those who have played long enough to earn a pension (usually about three or four years), should be allowed to vote.

He argues that the league currently holds important votes during the preseason when there are 90 players on a roster. Many of those players won’t be in the league a month later, yet their votes can change the future for the veterans who will be there for years.

James Harrison says he is tired of seeing NFLPA leaders who seem more interested in getting a job with the NFL after they retire than in fighting for the players’ rights. He wants to set a new standard of transparency and toughness, ensuring that the union works for the men in the helmets, not the owners in the suites. 

NFLPA Report Card Fallout

The NFL has successfully blocked the public release of the popular ‘annual team report cards.’ According to a memo sent to all 32 teams on Friday, the union is now prohibited from publishing these assessments for the public to see.

The arbitrator found that the scientific nature of the surveys was misleading, noting that the union ‘cherry-picked’ specific data and anonymous quotes to fit a certain narrative.

Evidence revealed that while players provided feedback, union staffers were the ones writing the final commentary and deciding how heavily certain topics like travel or locker room quality were weighed into a team’s final letter grade.

Despite the ban on public distribution, the NFLPA remains defiant and plans to continue the program behind closed doors. The union stated that it will still survey players and share those results internally with the locker rooms and the teams.

The league, meanwhile, argued that the report cards were a biased PR tool rather than a fair assessment. NFL officials expressed satisfaction with the ruling, stating they want to work with the union on a ‘scientifically valid’ survey conducted by an independent company.

This new version would focus specifically on medical care and player safety, ensuring that feedback is handled through the official channels agreed upon in the collective bargaining agreement.

Many players are upset about this change because they saw the report cards as a rare way to be honest about their workplaces. Veteran players like Kelvin Beachum and Cameron Heyward previously supported the system, saying it forced team owners to fix bad working conditions.

Without public grades, many players worry the league is simply trying to hide its problems from fans and the media. James Harrison, on the other hand, firmly believes the union must change its system to ensure it truly protects the players’ health and safety rather than just following the league’s corporate interests.