N.F.L. Players’ Union Quietly Seeks New Leadership

DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the N.F.L. Players Association, led negotiations with team owners that added a 17th regular season game to the schedule.Credit...Rob Carr/Getty ImagesIt has been two years and Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs is still sore about how his union negotiated its latest labor deal.

In negotiations leading up to the March 2020 expiration of the old collective bargaining agreement, DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the N.F.L. Players Association, publicly opposed a push by team owners to expand the regular season beyond 16 games.

Yet weeks before the deal was set to end, Smith unveiled proposals for a new agreement which sought to extend the N.F.L.…