NFL wins grievance against NFLPA report cards’ release
All 32 NFL teams will miss honor roll this semester. It’s not because of poor marks – rather, they’re just not letting anyone see their report cards.
The league announced in a memo to teams on Feb. 13 that it had successfully won its grievance against the NFL Players Association for the NFLPA’s annual release of ‘Team Report Cards.’ An arbitrator ruled in the NFL’s favor with the decision that the report cards – which graded NFL teams via categories such as quality of locker rooms, their treatment of families and ownership – violated the collective bargaining agreement between the two parties.
The grievance ruling, according to the NFL’s memo on Feb. 13, also includes a prohibition on ‘publishing or publicly disclosing the results of future player Report Cards.’
The NFLPA began publishing its player-driven team report cards in 2023, with more than 1,000 active players assigning grades to teams for a variety of categories. The grade results for each category were weighted (a ‘treatment of families’ grade was worth 6% of the overall grade, while ‘club owner’ was worth 15%, according to the NFLPA’s official website) and combined to calculate an overall grade. Every team was then ranked 1-32 based on its final, overall grade.
In 2025, the Miami Dolphins earned the No. 1 ranking for a second straight year, while the Arizona Cardinals were ranked No. 32 after ranking 27th the year prior.
In the NFL’s Feb. 13 memo, the league wrote that the players’ union ‘cherry-picked which topics and responses to include (or not)’ in the report cards and that players themselves had no say on the write-ups for each team. Instead, ‘union staffers’ put together each team’s report card.
‘In essence, the record established that the Report Cards were designed by the union to advance its interests under the guise of a scientific exercise,’ the memo read.
The league’s memo went on to encourage teams ‘to solicit feedback directly from their own players’ to determine where improvements may be necessary. The memo concluded with a pledge that the NFL will continue working with the NFLPA to ‘design and conduct’ a survey of players ‘regarding the adequacy of medical care under the CBA.’
Former and current players call out NFL for its grievance
Former NFL defender J.J. Watt protested the grievance decision in a social media post. He pointed out the perceived hypocrisy of the league prohibiting players from ‘grading their workplace’ while using Pro Football Focus grades to show player rankings on every ‘Sunday Night Football’ broadcast.
‘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,’ he wrote on X.
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan also aired his criticism at the NFL for its handling of the NFLPA report cards. Jordan pointed out the importance of holding teams accountable for providing the services that are ‘Necessities to keep the modern NFL athlete top tier.’
NFLPA releases its own statement
Hours after the NFL released its memo, the NFLPA released a statement clarifying that the player report card program will still exist. The main difference stemming from the grievance decision is that the report card results will no longer be made public.
‘The ruling upholds our right to survey players and share the results with players and clubs,’ the statement reads. ‘While we strongly disagree with the restriction on making those results public, that limitation does not stop the program or its impact. Players will continue to receive the results, and teams will continue to hear directly from their locker rooms.
‘Importantly, the arbitrator rejected the NFL’s characterization of the process, finding the Team Report Cards to be fair, balanced, and increasingly positive over time.’
