Explaining the NFL Grievance Process for Christian Wilkins, Raiders

We will examine all of those issues and more.

When you are talking about that kind of money, lawyers are necessary and have already been engaged. Wilkins petitioned for a grievance to be filed by the NFL Players Association. Said grievance has been filed. It was filed Thursday morning, before Wilkins was terminated.

Injury Grievance vs. NonInjury Grievance

There are two types of grievances that can be filed. Those are injury grievance and noninjury grievance. According to published reports, Wilkins has filed a noninjury grievance. His grievance against the Raiders is based on money.

At issue is the aforementioned guaranteed money Wilkins believes he is entitled to, despite only playing five games for the Raiders. The Raiders believe Wilkins violated the terms of the contract and is therefore not entitled to the guarantee.

The Raiders informed Wilkins before spring OTA's that he would require a second surgery to correct the Jones fracture he suffered last season. Wilkins was adamant that he would not go under the knife again and continued with his rehab.

It should be noted it normally takes about four months to come back from a Jones fracture. Wilkins has stretched that time period by a lot.

The Raiders then on June 4 voided his guarantee. That was the beginning of the end for Wilkins as a Raiders player. John Spytek and Pete Carroll had put their plan in motion and the question was not if he would be terminated, but when.

It can be presumed that if you deny an employee $35.2 million, you don't plan on keeping that employee. That is exactly what happened here.

Filing the Grievance

When a player seeks to file a grievance for a noninjury issue, he has 50 days from the date of the event that triggered the grievance. Accordingly, Wilkins had 50 days from June 4. The issue is not whether the Raiders had a right to terminate the contract. The issue is whether they can deny him guaranteed money he earned when he signed the contract.

When the new league year began in March, his $8 million base salary for this season became fully guaranteed. Further, as a result of restructuring his deal to help the Raiders in salary cap purposes, 2026 salary became guaranteed as well. That is an additional $27.25 million. The total which is at issue is $35.25 million.

And then what happens?

Next, the case will be assigned an arbitrator who will conduct a hearing. That has not occurred yet. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Raiders are going to have a big fight on their hands and presumptively it is a grievance they will have a hard time winning.

In the interim, Wilkins will visit teams, take physicals and will ultimately end up signing with an NFL team.

Our Raiders On SI beat writer Hondo Carpenter wrote exactly what the facts are. The Raiders believe they followed the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement to the letter. The arbitrator will issue a ruling which might be able to be challenged in a court of law.

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