Earlier today, we used the term “shitshow” when discussing the tenure of former NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell. Eagles tackle Lane Johnson was willing to apply the term more broadly.

Via Mark Maske of the Washington Post, here’s what Johnson told reporters on Wednesday regarding the issues the union currently faces: “It’s a shit show, I guess. I mean, it’s been that way. People have known that. I’ve known that. So hopefully it gets better. I think it will.”

(I’m not sure whether “shitshow” is one word or two. I’ll need to figure it out before my next game of Scrabble.)

Added Johnson: “I think [players will] care more when they realize that their voice is heard. Right now I feel like we have the weakest union in sports. But . . . it doesn’t change the way I feel about playing. But hopefully they can fix it for players in the future.”

Johnson has first-hand experience with issues involving the union. In 2017, he sued the NFL and the NFLPA over his 10-game PED suspension, arguing among other things that the arbitrator hired by the league and the union had a conflict of interest. The arbitrator came from the WilmerHale firm. It was the same firm the NFL had hired to investigate whether the Commissioner had the Ray Rice in-elevator knockout video before it was leaked to TMZ.

And it’s the same firm the NFLPA has hired to investigate the activities of Howell.

That’s one of the overlooked issues in a story chock full of intriguing wrinkles. Why hire a firm that has any connection to the NFL to explore matters regarding the NFLPA? There are literally hundreds of other firms to choose from.

And it seems as if there are virtually hundreds of issues to choose from when exploring the union’s ongoing, to use Johnson’s term, shit show.