ESPN’s Domonique Foxworth addresses possibility of becoming NFLPA interim executive director

There is nobody better-suited in NFL media to discuss the scandal that has rocked the NFL Players Association this month than ESPN’s Domonique Foxworth.

That’s because Foxworth was once a leader of the NFLPA. During his playing career as a defensive back, Foxworth served as the president of the union, a designation given to the top-ranking active player on the executive committee.

Since news first broke of a hidden ruling handed down by an arbitrator early this year over accusations of collusion against NFL owners, Foxworth has been on the case. Primarily through his standout podcast, he has dissected the news and delved into the intricacies of labor dynamics, NFL history, and the state of affairs within the union.

Now that executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. and former president-turned-chief strategy officer J.C. Tretter have resigned over the fallout from the hidden collusion ruling, Foxworth is understandably being bandied about as a potential interim lead for the NFLPA.

In an episode of The Domonique Foxworth Show on Monday, the host clarified that he is not in active discussions with union leadership but stopped short of ruling himself out as a potential candidate.

“Some reports are out there that I am a candidate to be the interim executive director,” Foxworth said. “I have not been reached out to by anyone within the PA, but I’ve been told by a number of people that my name comes up in those conversations.”

After retiring from the NFL, Foxworth got a secondary degree from Harvard Business School and worked as chief operating officer at the NBPA. Soon after, he joined ESPN, where he splits time between breaking down secondary coverages and taking audiences through the inner workings of sports business.

When Howell was hired in 2023, Foxworth revealed on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast that he was a candidate for the executive director position. That same podcast has since admitted that NFL player representatives were left in the dark on the shortlist of candidates until the time they were to vote for the new executive director.

Perhaps a more transparent process, in the aftermath of such a disappointing tenure for Howell and Tretter, could lead more clearly back to Foxworth. Between his tenure as a player, his resume, and his visibility on television, Foxworth is sure to be a prominent figure in the search to come.