Joseph Carl "JC" Tretter Jr. (born February 12, 1991) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

center. He played

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Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

and was selected by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

in the fourth round of the

2013 NFL draft The 2013 NFL draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

. Tretter served as president of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) from 2020 to 2024.

Early life

Tretter was born in

Batavia, New York Batavia is a city in and the county seat of Genesee County, New York, United States. It is located near the center of the county, surrounded by the Town of Batavia, which is a separate municipality. Batavia's population, as of the 2020 census, ...

, the son of Joseph and Cynthia Tretter. He attended Akron Central High School, where he was a standout athlete for the Akron Central Tigers football and basketball teams. He was a three-year starter on offense and defense for the Tigers in football, a team captain as a junior and senior, and was a second-team Class C all-state selection as a senior. In basketball, he was a four-year starter for the Tigers and a three-time first-team all-league selection, and graduated as the team's all-time leading scorer and rebounder.

College career

Tretter attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where he played for the

Cornell Big Red football The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Division I (NCAA)#Football Championship Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college fo ...

team from 2009 to 2012. After playing tight end during his first two seasons, he switched to the offensive tackle position for his final two years. He was credited with the significantly improved pass protection given to Cornell's quarterback in 2011 and 2012. Following his senior season in 2012, he was a unanimous first-team All-

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

selection. He also received third-team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors ( FCS) from Beyond Sports College Network and The Sports Network. At Cornell, Tretter studied in the School of Industrial Labor Relations. His sister, Katie, and three of his uncles all attended Cornell. His uncle, David Tretter, played football for Cornell during the mid-1970s.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

The

selected Tretter in the fourth round (122nd overall) of the

. He was the ninth offensive tackle selected and was the second offensive tackle drafted by the Green Bay Packers, behind fourth round pick David Bakhtiari (109th overall). On May 10, 2013, the Green Bay Packers signed Tretter to a four-year, $2.57 million

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

that includes a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $415,908. Tretter was placed on reserve/ physically unable to perform on August 27, 2013. On December 10, 2013, he was activated from the physically unable to perform list. On September 3, 2014, Tretter was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

– designated for return. He was activated from injured reserve – designated for return on November 3, 2014. In 2016, Tretter started seven games for the Packers before going down with a knee injury in Week 7. He was inactive for the rest of the games in the regular season before having surgery on January 17, 2017. He was placed on injured reserve on January 21, 2017, a day before the NFC Championship matchup against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

Cleveland Browns

On March 9, 2017, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

signed Tretter to a three-year, $16.75 million contract that includes $6.50 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $4.50 million. In his first season in Cleveland, he started all 16 games at center. On November 7, 2019, Tretter signed a three-year, $32.5 million contract extension with the Browns, keeping him under contract through the 2022 season. Tretter was released by the Browns on March 15, 2022. On August 25, 2022, Tretter announced his retirement from the NFL.

NFLPA President

Having studied labor relations at

, Tretter was elected President of the NFL Players Association on March 10, 2020, succeeding Eric Winston. He played a role in negotiations surrounding the 2020–2030 collective bargaining agreement, which was ultimately agreed to five days after he became president of the NFLPA. Tretter was named co-chair of the NFLPA's

COVID Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

committee ahead of the

2020 NFL season The 2020 NFL season was the 101st season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season started with the NFL Kickoff Game on September 10, in which defending Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City defeated Houston. The playoffs were ...

. He represented players in negotiations that created new health and safety protocols, resulting in an average league positivity rate of 0.076% and enabling all 256 regular-season games being able to be played with no cancellations. In March 2022, Tretter was re-elected for a second term as NFLPA president.

Personal life

Tretter married Anna Tretter in February 2020.

References

External links

Cornell Big Red bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tretter, J. C. 1991 births Living people American football centers American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Cleveland Browns players Cornell Big Red football players Green Bay Packers players People from Akron, New York Players of American football from Erie County, New York NFL Players Association presidents