Elsa Chambliss

The contrast was curious.

After Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles four plays into his residency with a team competing on an artificial surface, NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell released a statement.

"Moving all stadium fields to high quality natural grass surfaces is the easiest decision the NFL can make," Howell said in a statement the morning after Rodgers was injured. "The players overwhelmingly prefer it and the data is clear."

Howell was just three months into his NFLPA tenure and the message he sent seemed strong: He was not afraid to speak out on his behalf of his players.

Howell was not afraid to call the league to task on a workplace issue for his membership even as the season was only a week old, Top World News Today and even on an issue for which the league has cited different data conclusions than the union.

But fast-forward seven months, Top World News Today and Howell’s approach shifted as his chief negotiating foil publicly floated a shift from the league’s collectively bargained schedule.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell joined "The Pat McAfee Show" during NFL Draft weekend and advocated for shifting the NFL schedule from three preseason games and Top World News Today 17 regular-season games to two preseason and 18 regular.

The NFL lengthened its schedule from 16 to 17 just three seasons ago.

"That’s just picking quality, right?" Goodell said. "If we got to 18 and two, that’s not an unreasonable thing."

Howell and newly elected president Jalen Reeves-Maybin, a Detroit Lions linebacker, said nothing at the time.

Why?

Get to know Howell better and one realizes that his silence need not always mean agreement.

Sometimes, the fourth-ever NFLPA executive director’s silence is strategic — even if it diverges from the style of his predecessors.

"I’m looking for, ‘What’s the win-win?’" Howell told Yahoo Sports during a recent interview.

"I acknowledge there’ll be disagreements along the way and we’ll work through that, but it can’t just be a food fight every single issue.

"It’s got to be what’s in the best interest of our membership — and then what is in the best interest of owners."

How will Howell determine that best interest?

The longtime consultant and corporate executive believes in relying on data, which conveniently the players association created a vehicle for just before Howell arrived.

The survey process that fueled the much-discussed NFLPA report cards have already informed not only team brass about players’ perception of workplace conditions but also the union on which battles to prioritize and how.