Due to a violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Jacksonville Jaguars are one of the league’s biggest topics of discussion after what was supposed to be a victory Monday. Per multiple media outlets, an arbitrator ruled in the NFLPA’s favor after it filed a grievance against the organization.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero posted the email players union’s email, which states the team fined an anonymous player over $700,000 for missing an offseason rehab process which the Jags were trying to make mandatory at their facility. The statement is one that came down hard on the Jags’ warning players to heavily consider what they are getting into when signing with the organization which has accounted for 25% of all recent NFL grievances.
The player who was fined was revealed to be former pass-rusher Dante Fowler Jr. according to the Associated Press.
These issues with the NFLPA seem to be mostly due to Jags football executive Tom Coughlin, who has a great deal of history with the union. The team hired him almost three years ago and things haven’t gone well with the player’s union since.
The statement highlighted Fowler’s incident in 2018, but there was a similar incident that occurred back in 2017 and it was believed then that something could come from it. Evidently, the Jags continued their stance on rehabbing at the facility during the offseason past that point and now have to deal with the consequences.
Most fans will also be quick to remember the legal process the NFLPA got into with the Jags as running back Leonard Fournette filed a grievance against the Jags in January for voiding the remainder of his contract guarantees. Another notable incident with the union also occurred months later in the offseason, when Coughlin singled out Jalen Ramsey and Telvin Smith for missing the voluntary part of the offseason. The NFLPA fired back with a statement to the organization, explaining what the term “voluntary” meant.
The NFLPA’s recent grievance isn’t one in which looks good on owner Shad Khan’s part when considering the team is likely heading for a rebuild and will need to show players that the organization is worth playing for down the road. It especially could increase the likelihood that Coughlin’s days (and several others in the front office) are coming to a close with the organization.
