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Future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez does not believe today’s NFL players are getting good representation from their union.

Gonzalez said on FS1 that NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith is not doing a good job of leading the union because he does not understand what NFL players really need.

“I do believe that the person in that position should be somebody who played in the NFL,” Gonzalez said. “Somebody who understands what the players are going through because they did it before. That was something that I never liked about DeMaurice.”

Regarding the NFL’s ongoing talks with the NFLPA about a revised national anthem rule, Gonzalez said he believes former NFLPA head Gene Upshaw, who was a Hall of Fame player, would have been able to agree with former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue about a rule that everyone could live with.

“The knock against Gene Upshaw was that he was in Tagliabue’s pocket. Everybody said they’re too close to each other. These two guys, DeMaurice and Roger Goodell they can’t stand each other,” Gonzalez said. “These guys are getting paid a lot of money to go into that room and come up with a solution that’s going to be great for everybody. Everybody’s got to concede. That’s just how it goes. Anybody who thinks they’re going to get the whole enchilada, it doesn’t make sense. You should not think that way because that’s how progress gets stalled. These guys should have gone in that room, it should be over and done with now, everybody concedes, everybody gives, everybody takes, and let’s get back to the game of football. DeMaurice has not been able to do that. I have not seen that.”

Gonzalez proposed former NFL linebacker Scott Fujita as someone who could lead the NFL Players Association.

Sports players’ unions have often been led by non-players. The current executive director of the Major League Baseball Players’ Association, Tony Clark, is a former player, but he’s the first former player to head the union. The head of the National Basketball Association Players’ Association, Michele Roberts, didn’t play pro sports. Neither did Donald Fehr, who is currently executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association and previously spent 25 years heading the baseball union. So Smith is far from alone in lacking the experience that Gonzalez thinks is essential.