Free agent Reid challenging new NFL deal
(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 27, 2019 Eric Reid #25 of the Carolina Panthers waits to take the field against the San Francisco 49ers prior to the game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by EZRA SHAW / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Free agent defensive back Eric Reid has challenged the validity of the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement, saying some language in the final version isn’t what players voted on.
Reid announced his legal challenge on Twitter on Monday, posting a letter that his lawyers had sent to the NFL Players Association and its executive director DeMaurice Smith.
Reid is demanding an investigation and a new vote by players on the contract, which passed by a narrow vote of 1,019-959 this month.
In the letter, Reid’s lawyers note that language in a March 5 version of the agreement that was circulated to players before they voted differs from language in the final version.
It refers to benefits for retired players, and according to Reid’s attorneys “the new language … states players agreed to reduce benefits to a much larger population of disabled retired players than found in the terms presented during the recent vote.
“The new language will reduce the benefits of potentially hundreds of families who were not negatively impacted in this way, by the terms found in the March 5 CBA version,” reads the letter from attorneys Ray Genco and Ben Meiselas.
Reid was a critic of the proposed agreement, tweeting on March 15 after it was ratified that he was “gutted” for families who rely on NFL disability benefits.
An NFLPA spokesman told NBC’s Pro Football Talk the union was reviewing the letter.
