When following the NFL, we can only center our energy on what’s out in the open. We can talk about free agency and star players on the move. We can break down the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. (Even though it can be such a chore.) We can look ahead to the draft, and get excited over top prospects. And, of course, we can watch the games every Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and (sometimes) Saturday.
But our exposure to what happens behind the scenes for all 32 teams is limited. Unless someone lets us behind the curtain, we don’t know what happens across the league when executives, players, and coaches aren’t in plain sight or on social media.
A new NFL Player’s Association survey (or “Report Cards) aims to fix that. In a look at the quality of the conditions (or lack thereof) all 32 franchises provide their players (including aspects like family treatment, locker rooms, and nutrition), the NFLPA questioned 1,300 players. The idea was for players to collaborate and ideally improve standards across the league.
Data from the report cards were collected from Mar. 1, 2022, to Apr. 1, 2022. It references a lot of happenings from the 2021 NFL season and the early portions of the 2022 offseason. For context, there are 1,696 players (53 per team) active every week during the season. So, this is decidedly not a small sample size. (It is not clear how many still active players were part of these report cards.)
For our purposes: Which teams have owners who seem to care little about what their players operate with? Which could do a little better (to say the least) in the kitchen? And which are complete messes across the board?
Let’s break down some of the more shocking revelations from the NFLPA’s report cards for all 32 organizations. (Note: This list is in no particular order.)