Giants quarterback Russell Wilson’s contract with the Denver Broncos angered the former president of the NFL players’ union to the point he made fun of Wilson in messages that were later used to get a lawsuit thrown out in court.
Sports journalist Pablo Torre released a new episode of his podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” on Tuesday. During the podcast, in which Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio appeared as a guest, details were revealed about accusations made during an arbitration case brought forth claiming players did not receive more fully guaranteed contracts after the Cleveland Browns signed quarterback Deshaun Watson to a five-year, $230 million contract that was entirely guaranteed in 2022.
After Wilson was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Broncos, court documents showed he asked for a fully guaranteed seven-year contract that would have paid him $50 million per year and seriously believed he would get the contract. Wilson ultimately signed a five-year, $245 million deal that was not fully guaranteed.
Torre said former NFL Players Association president and current chief strategy officer J.C. Tretter, a former Cleveland Browns center, was very unhappy that Wilson did not get the contract fully guaranteed and vented his frustration in text messages to former NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith.
“What I can now report is that J.C. Tretter, in a series of text messages that he sent to then-executive director of the union, DeMaurice Smith, repeatedly insulted Russell Wilson,” Torre said. “At one point, he used an expletive that I will not say here. J.C. Tretter also called Russell Wilson a quote-unquote ‘wuss.’ Then he said of Wilson, quote, ‘Instead of being the guy that made guaranteed contracts the norm, he’s the guy that ruined it for everyone,’ end quote.”
“To be very clear about this, the reason Russell Wilson didn’t get a fully guaranteed contract is because he’s not smart enough, not strategic enough to push hard enough for it, and not because the owners were colluding against Russell Wilson or Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray or the players,” Torre said. “J.C. Tretter was blaming the player instead of the owners, and the owners were like, ‘This feels like a very helpful bit of evidence for what we’re trying to prove,’ which is that this case should be dismissed. And by the way, not unrelatedly, the case ultimately was.”
Torre added that four of his sources in the union believed Tretter did not want to be publicly documented criticizing another union member, leading to the concern that players would not continue to trust him if he was talking about them behind their backs. The NFL wound up using Tretter’s words in the lawsuit that claimed owners were colluding to not give more players guaranteed contracts, which was ultimately dropped.
Wilson’s one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers last season was fully guaranteed, but it was for $1.21 million. Wilson, 36, signed a one-year, $10.5 million contract with the Giants in March, with $10 million guaranteed while receiving an $8 million signing bonus.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
