The NFL certainly doesn't like their teams to be graded and the report issued publicly. They actually won a grievance to stop it. This years report was actually leaked but was never supposed to be seen by the public.................
NFL Takes Cowardly Route by Barring Release of Annual NFLPA Report Cards
No more public “F” grades. The NFLPA is prohibited from publicly releasing its annual report cards.
The NFL Players Association will no longer be publicly releasing their annual team report cards.
In recent years, the NFLPA has surveyed well over 1,000 players across the league to compile report cards and grades for all 32 teams based on the following categories that affect players’ lives on a day-to-day basis.
Treatment of families
Food/dining area
Nutritionist/dietitian
Locker room
Training room
Training staff
Weight room
Strength coaches
Team travel
Head coach
Ownership
After releasing these grades publicly over the last three years, the NFL filed a grievance to stop the union from filing these report cards. On Friday, the NFL sent a letter to teams announcing that they had won their grievance as the arbitrator ruled that the release of these report cards “disparaging NFL clubs and individuals violates the Collective Bargaining Agreement.” The arbitrator issued an order prohibiting the NFLPA from publicly releasing these report cards in the future.
The result of this grievance is disappointing to many across the league. Retired defensive end J.J. Watt was among the first to speak out, writing on X, “NFL won’t let actual players grade the workplace they attend every single day, but they’ll allow a 3rd party ‘grading’ service to display their ‘rankings’ of players on national television every Sunday night…”
49ers tight end George Kittle showed support for Watt’s message, replying “Go off J.J.”
Saints defensive end Cam Jordan wrote on X, “The NFL is upset that teams have been graded, judged and coerced to update to facilities, training staffs, weight rooms. Necessities to keep the modern NFL athlete top tier,” with an eye roll emoji.
The NFLPA began releasing these report cards in hopes of providing better information to free agents as they pick their next teams as well as helping “raise the standards across each club.”
Even though the release of these report cards began just three years ago, much of the league has already seen meaningful change as teams aim to raise their grades by providing better working conditions for players.
Here’s a look at just some of the changes that have come out of these report cards.
In the first released report cards in 2023, the Falcons received a “C-“ in nutrition and the weight room and a “D” or “D-“ for their strength staff and locker room. By 2025, the Falcons ranked third overall and received “A’s” or higher in all but two categories. Their lowest grade in any category was a “B”.
The Commanders have also significantly improved their ranking, moving up to 11th in 2025. This in large part because of the ownership change which moved the franchise away from Dan Snyder. Unsurprisingly, that has led to the betterment of the franchise both on the field and off.
The Chargers were another team that received multiple “F” and “D” grades when the report cards were initially released in 2023. With their new facility “The Bolt” opening up, Los Angeles rose to the fifth-best grade in 2025.
Last year, the Patriots and Cardinals ranked 31st and 32nd in the report cards. Both teams have taken action and are in the process of building new facilities.
Among those who have spoken out against these report cards includes Jets owner Woody Johnson, who previously called the surveys “totally bogus.” Johnson was the only owner to receive an “F” grade in last year’s report cards. From reports that Johnson has given more weight to his teenage sons’ opinions on running the team, concerning comments he’s made toward his quarterbacks to the Jets holding the NFL’s longest active playoff drought, Johnson has been a symbol of poor ownership. Instead of looking to genuinely improve his team, Johnson has turned away from accountability.
The NFL has since said in a statement, via Jonathan Jones, “We remain committed to working in partnership with the NFLPA and an independent survey company to develop and administer a scientifically valid survey to solicit accurate and reliable player feedback as the parties agreed in the CBA.”
This is a cowardly step back for the NFL as the league and poor ownership win over the well-being of its players. These surveys have been popular and effective for a reason as they’ve urged many teams to improve their facilities and conditions to lure free agents and please their players. Instead of embracing this as the positive it is, the league is once again turning its back on accountability and doing what’s best for its players.
“We understand that the NFL Players Association posted its ‘Team Report Cards’ on its players-only website today and we are aware that the media is reporting some of the purported results. As we have previously advised, the admissions made by the union and its counsel during the the grievance hearing—including that: (i): the Report Cards are ‘union speech’; (ii) the union cherry-picks which topics and responses to include and exclude; (iii) players have no role in drafting the Report Cards commentary; (iv) the union chooses which anonymous player quotations to include and which ones to leave out; and (v) the union determines how much weight to allocate to each topic before assigning the ‘grades’—confirmed that the Report Cards are neither reliable nor scientifically valid. In fact, these admissions explain the union’s ongoing and steadfast refusal to share any data or information about the process that it inaccurately tries to characterize as ‘scientifically valid.’
Given these significant admitted limitations, we continued to recommend that Clubs prioritize feedback and information provided directly by their own players rather than relying on the NFLPA’s agenda-driven exercise. We further recommend that Clubs refrain from commenting or engaging publicly on the alleged survey and Report Card results. Doing so only provides credibility to the union’s media campaign.”
What did we learn from the 2026 NFLPA record cards?
There were a number of takeaways from this year’s grades. Some teams remained close to the same though in the rankings, including the Browns and Cardinals, who rank 30th and 31st respectively—both ranked 30th or worse a year ago too. The Cardinals are in the process of building a new facility which could help their grades rise, but it doesn’t help their cause that Michael Bidwell was the lone owner to receive an “F” grade.
The Steelers received the lowest grade after dropping to No. 32 in the rankings as the team scored grades of “D” or lower in treatment of families, home game field, their locker room, travel and ownership.
On the opposite end, the Dolphins and Vikings remain ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the league. The Commanders, Seahawks and Jaguars were among the top risers in the report cards this year, each moving into the top-five. The Commanders moved from No. 11 to third as the organization continues to improve after Dan Snyder sold the team. The Seahawks jumped from No. 15 to fourth after their Super Bowl-winning campaign. It will be interesting to see where they land in the years to come after their ownership change as the team’s current ownership received an “A” grade. The Jaguars also had a significant rise, improving from No. 18 to fifth in Year 1 under Liam Coen.
The Jets also notably rose from No. 29 to No. 18. Though owner Woody Johnson was among those that expressed opposition to the report cards, his grade ascended from an “F” to a “B.”
https://www.si.com/nfl/letter-nfl-sent-to-teams-after-nflpa-report-cards-were-leakedAt the same link just below this article is is this story...............
Here’s the Letter the NFL Sent to Teams After NFLPA Report Cards Were Leaked
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