When The Carlyle Group became one of the few private-equity funds that were approved to buy minority interests in NFL teams, former NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell should have been required to resign from his part-time consulting job with The Carlyle Group or from the NFLPA.

Those connected with the NFL Players Association’s search that led to the 2023 election of Lloyd Howell as executive director defend the steps that were taken.

The former executive director, who resigned from the NFLPA on Thursday, also stepped down from his position with The Carlyle Group.