The Falcons, Chargers and Commanders made the biggest gains in the NFLPA’s annual survey of working conditions for players released today, while the Giants, Jaguars, Eagles and Bills declined the most.
For the second straight year, the Dolphins and Vikings finished first and second, respectively. Those two teams have held the top two spots in all three of the NFLPA surveys released so far, with their owners Stephen Ross and the Wilf family separating themselves from the pack in almost every category measured.
The Falcons finished third overall (up from 25th); the Raiders finished fourth (up from 9); and the Chargers, who opened a new team headquarters last summer, rose from 30th to fifth.
The Commanders, who finished in last place last year, rose to 11th overall, with new owner Josh Harris responding to players’ concerns after years of negligence in team facilities and staffing. NFLPA leaders said it was a textbook case of how relatively little things can have big impact on players’ perception of their work environment.
“If you’ve been to the Commanders facility, it’s the same facility,” said NFLPA Chief Strategy Officer JC Tretter. “He didn’t knock down walls, he didn’t rebuild it. He made changes in staffing, he made changes in what players had been asking for, kind of the softer skills areas of the facility, and he changed the culture there, and you can feel that when we went there for a team visit.”
Commanders first-year head coach Dan Quinn was the top-rated coach on the list; another first-year head coach, the Falcons’ Raheem Morris, was No. 2.
The bottom five teams overall were Steelers (28, unchanged from last year), followed by the Jets (29, down from 21), the Browns (30, down from 23), the Patriots (31, down from 29) and the Cardinals (32, down from 27).
Overall, scores continue to improve, NFLPA leaders said in a media conference this morning. There was a 41% increase in A’s given, and a 51% decrease in Ds or Fs.
“We’ve seen major shifts across almost every team to the positive,” Tretter said.
That rising tide dynamic means some nuance is required in analyzing the lower-ranked teams, Tretter said, noting that the Steelers’ overall score improved from last year even though its ranking relative to the rest of the league did not.
The biggest year-over-year declines were found for the Super Bowl champion Eagles (22nd, down from 4th), the Jaguars (18th, down from 5th), Giants (20th, down from 8th), and the Bills (23rd, down from 11).
The survey takes into account 11 different categories within teams: treatment of families, food/cafeteria, nutritionist/dietician, locker room, training room, training staff, weight room, strength coaches, team travel, head coach and owner. All told, 1,695 players completed the survey, or 77% of its membership or 52 players per team on average.
Owners, as individuals, were again ranked for their perceived willingness to invest in team facilities. The top five in that category were: 1.) Dolphins’ Stephen Ross, 2.) Vikings’ Zygi Wilf, 3.) Falcons’ Arthur Blank, 4.) Broncos’ Greg Penner, and 5.) Chargers’ Dean Spanos.
The bottom five in that category were 28.) Patriots’ Robert Kraft, 29.) Panthers’ David Tepper, 30.) Steelers’ Art Rooney II, 31.) Cardinals’ Michael Bidwill, and 32.) Jets’ Woody Johnson.
Owners were ranked in two new categories: positive contributions to a team culture, and commitment to building a competitive team.
The top five owners in positive contributions to team culture were: 1.) Ross 2.) Blank 3.) Wilf 4.) Harris 5.) Greg Penner. The bottom five in that category were: 28.) Bidwill, 29.) the Browns’ Jimmy Haslam, 30.) Kraft, 31.) Tepper, and 32.) Johnson.
The top five owners in commitment to building a competitive team: 1.) Ross, 2.) Blank, 3.) Wilf, 4.) Harris, 5.) Penner. The bottom five were: 28. Bengals’ Mike Brown, 29.) Haslam, 30.) Kraft, 31.) Johnson 32.) Tepper.
The union said teams and owners have generally responded positively to the feedback from the survey, Tretter and NFLPA Exec Dir Lloyd Howell said. There was one notable exception -- the Jets and owner Woody Johnson.
“The [Jets] players felt instead of what we’ve seen all these teams do, take feedback and make improvements, players felt it went the opposite way,” Tretter said. “Where management made a decision to make it worse, or cut funding to certain things, like the food program. The players felt like the budget was cut in those areas, and it made it a worse overall program. And they talked about the culture, they mentioned things like it’s problem top-down, there’s a culture of fear here, and it stands out in those grades too.”
