Does the union even have an obligation to these players or is it more the NFL. This is a clip from Wikipedia and union did not have any power until 1968 and then had a lapse in their agreement from 1987 to 1993.
The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is the labor union of players in football's National Football League. It was founded in 1956, but only achieved recognition and a collective bargaining agreement in 1968. After a lost strike in 1987, the union was formally decertified, converting into a professional association in order to pursue antitrust litigation designed to win free agency for its members. When that tactic worked it reformed as a union and resumed collective bargaining with the league in 1993.
National Football League Players Association - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia