This summer, a collusion complaint over fully guaranteed quarterback contracts will go to trial.

The NFL is still in its summer of law. Apart from the present Sunday Ticket trial, there is another potentially big piece of pending litigation.

In 2022, the union lodged a grievance alleging collusion between teams over fully-guaranteed contracts with specific quarterbacks. The grievance will be tried before a system arbitrator in July and August, according to a number of sources.

Christopher F. Droney, a former federal judge who served in both district court and appellate capacities, is the system arbitrator. His tenure spanned from 1997 until 2019.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association hired him together. There is an underlying understanding on both parties that he will make a fair decision.

We are informed that the complaint centers on agreements reached in 2022 and 2023.
The collusion grievance won’t be an open trial like the Sunday Ticket trial. There won’t be any media coverage of the testimony or any other case developments. It’s possible that we won’t even know who the witnesses are.

The way Lamar Jackson’s contract was handled is said to have been the cause of the dispute. Prior to using the non-exclusive franchise tag, the Ravens did not re-sign him, and no other team extended an offer to him following that.

There will probably be a problem with the response to Deshaun Watson’s contract that the Browns offered him. When the completely guaranteed, five-year contract was signed in March 2022, it caused quite a stir.

There will be a ruling in the absence of a settlement. The decision will be

The way Lamar Jackson’s contract was handled is said to have been the cause of the dispute. Prior to using the non-exclusive franchise tag, the Ravens did not re-sign him, and no other team extended an offer to him following that.

There will probably be a problem with the response to Deshaun Watson’s contract that the Browns offered him. When the completely guaranteed, five-year contract was signed in March 2022, it caused quite a stir.

There will be a ruling in the absence of a settlement. There will be very few possibilities and the decision will be decisive.