Owners shut down publication of annual NFLPA report card

They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. On Friday, the NFL owners successfully shut the blinds.

League owners were successful in their petition to the end the publication of the annual NFLPA report card, introduced by the players' union in 2023 and strategically released each year on the eve of free agency. The report cards graded all 32 franchises on 11 metrics that greatly determined players' job satisfaction, particularly off the field: treatment of families; food/cafeteria; nutrition/dietician; locker room; training room; training staff; weight room; strength coaches; team travel; head coach; and owner. 

"The arbitrator held that publication of Report Cards disparaging NFL clubs and individuals violates the Collective Bargaining Agreement and issued an Order prohibiting the NFLPA from publishing or publicly disclosing the results of future player Report Cards."

Of course, for every team or individual "disparaged" by the publication of the report cards, many more were praised -- in 2024, 18 of 32 head coaches received at least an A-minus for efficiently utilizing players' time and listening to players' concerns. 

Furthermore, a number of players praised team ownership for making improvements spurred by the publication of the report card.

"I'm super thankful to have the opportunity to play for Mr. Blank and the Falcons organization because there's been so many improvements in my time here, and he's constantly trying to give us the best opportunity to win in the best facilities around here," Falcons Pro Bowl guard Chris Lindstrom told ESPN after the Falcons jumped from 25th to third in facilities. "And the changes that he's made are incredible, and I know they have even more coming soon. So, it's like, I don't know, I'm just thankful for the environment that we get to have playing here."

But, those who consistently received failing grades were undoubtedly the loudest voices in the room. 

The NFL argued it wasn't against the surveys, it was just against the publication of the surveys. The NFLPA argued that publicizing the report cards was the entire point. The league argues many of the improvements made across the league in the past three years just happened to coincide with poor grades in the publicized report cards by pure coincidence. 

"They grade us all the time," Rams safety Quentin Lake said last year. "We get graded every single day, whether it's at practice or during the game. It's just interesting that now they don't want report cards to come out about their organization and stuff like that. That's like, to me, it's a little disappointing because as players, our job is to get graded, but then when they ask us to grade something, they're like, 'Mmm, no.'"