NFLPA report cards: Dolphins rank 1st with all As; which teams got failing grades?

Greg Auman

NFC South Reporter

For the second consecutive year, the NFLPA has surveyed its players about their own teams, posting detailed responses that grade teams in 11 categories ranging from head coach and owner to cafeteria and treatment of player families.

The entire survey is online here, with responses from about 1,700 players (77 percent of the league), complete with individual player comments and complaints on facilities, staff, travel policies — like any other office!

The Miami Dolphins were the big winners this year, with the highest aggregate grading of any NFL team, getting no worse than an A-minus in all 11 categories. They had the league’s highest grades in six categories, including A-plus grades for ownership and their weight room.

The Minnesota Vikings, who ranked first last year, received glowing grades once again and wound up second.

Other teams were not as fortunate.

At the other extreme are the Washington Commanders, whose new ownership got a B grade, but the team received F or F-minus grades in five of the other 10 categories: treatment of families, locker room, training room, training staff and team travel. Winning two straight Super Bowls wasn’t enough to keep the Chiefs from ranking 31st in the grading, with F grades for nutrition/dietitian, locker room and training staff and a rare F-minus for ownership. Andy Reid was the highest-graded head coach out of 32 teams.

The NFLPA also shared individual criticisms and complaints. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for instance, require younger players to pay $1,750 for the year if they don’t want to share a hotel room with a teammate on the road, and they charge $90 per child for game-day child care, something that is offered for free by other teams.

The same report cards were issued last year, giving teams the opportunity to improve in areas of low grades — the Cardinals, for instance, moved up to 27th, addressing issues from last year like charging players for dinner in the team facility and upgrading the weight room and improved accommodations for daycare and player families.

The Chargers, who ranked 30th overall, finished last in food/cafeteria in both “taste” and “freshness,” with travel complaints that the team flies its equipment with its players, leading to delays on the tarmac waiting for the plane to be loaded.

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Players were kinder in some categories than others — in evaluating their own head coach, they arrived at 19 A grades and 10 Bs, with only three coaches ending up lower — Atlanta’s Arthur Smith got a C-plus, Washington’s Ron Rivera received a C and Las Vegas’ Josh McDaniels wound up at D. All three were fired by the end of the year.

Ownership also drew mostly high grades, with 10 As and 11 Bs, but there were a few notable exceptions: the Patriots, Panthers and Bucs earned D grades, the Cardinals and Steelers got Fs and Chiefs an F-minus.

“Progress rarely comes as fast as you would like, but we are encouraged by how many teams made substantial improvements in the wake of last year’s results,” NFLPA president J.C. Tretter wrote in introducing the report cards. “Overall, players responded to those changes positively, which is reflected in many of the grades for those clubs.”

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.