NFLPA Announces 8 Candidates Will Oppose DeMaurice Smith for Executive Director

DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, will have serious competition when the NFLPA votes on the position March 15.         

NFLPA president Eric Winston revealed the full list of candidates, which includes seven candidates outside of Smith:

However, it appears Winston also forgot one person as he later amended the list by adding Jason Belser to the fold (per Pro Football Talk).

Bleacher Report's Jason Cole noted the high number of candidates indicates in part how many NFLPA members are looking for change at the top:

On March 14, Cole added that 10 agents around the league believe Gilbert is the best choice.

"It's a union where everybody is heard but majority rules," Smith said Thursday of the NFLPA, per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, via the Charlotte Observer. "And as we will surely see in a few days in Hawaii, there's more than enough people who I'm sure have some sort of disagreement with me or the course of how the union has gone or the vision for the union in the future."

On March 15, Mark Maske of The Washington Post provided some insight on the voting, with Cole offering an initial observation:

According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, Smith will face off against his seven counterparts in 10 days. Whoever has a simple majority on the first ballot wins, and if nobody meets that threshold, the top two names on the ballot will be placed into a runoff election.

As Florio also noted in his piece, the executive director job isn't necessarily a vital position for the time being. The most recent collective bargaining agreement was ratified in 2011 and runs through 2020, so a labor dispute doesn't look to be an issue in the near future.

With that said, Smith plays a big role in serving as a check to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Smith was very vocal during the Ray Rice affair about the league's use of retrospective punishment and immediate suspensions without a player receiving due process.

Whether it's Smith or a new executive director, the NFLPA head will have to ensure the players receive fair treatment from the league.