NFLPA pushed for Week 15 postponements over forfeits
The NFL moved three games in Week 15, which caught many off-guard given the NFL's stated desire to try to avoid schedule disruptions due to COVID-19 in 2021. That included the possibility of forcing teams to forfeit if they could not field full squads due to the virus.
It was revealed on Wednesday the NFL Players Association pushed for all those games to be rescheduled so players wouldn't miss paychecks.
"Our position, as a union, is that we fight for wages, benefits and working conditions," Cleveland Browns center and NFLPA president JC Tretter explained in a press conference. "The NFL's position last week was that those games were going to be canceled... That's obviously an issue for us as a union when over 18 percent of our player population was at risk of not getting paid last week."
The Browns had their matchup against the Raiders rescheduled from Saturday to Monday amid an outbreak that put 22 of Cleveland's players in the league protocol. Tretter reportedly received flack from some Raiders players for pushing to reschedule the game, but the eight-year veteran insisted he and the NFLPA were lobbying for both teams.
"I think the thing that people didn't understand was I was fighting for the same thing for the Browns players as I was for the Raiders players, which was to get paid," Tretter said, via ESPN. "I don't think everybody was fully aware of just how close those games were to being canceled."
According to CBS Sports, 18 games over the last two seasons have been rescheduled instead of canceled thanks to Tretter and the NFLPA.
The league has yet to comment on Tretter's remarks.
More must-reads: