Among those categories, Washington’s locker room and training room ranked last in the league. Only 26 percent of Commanders players who voted said they felt they had enough room for their lockers, and some cited multiple sewage leaks. Washington ranked 31st in treatment of families, training staff, team travel and head coach.
The low grades for the Commanders’ facilities aren’t necessarily surprising; former owner Daniel Snyder invested minimally in the facilities, resulting in a dilapidated stadium in Landover and an outdated training facility in Ashburn. Snyder sold the team to a group led by private equity investor Josh Harris in late July.
The ownership change seemed to leave an impression on players; Harris ranked 18th among owners, earning a B grade for his willingness to invest in the team’s facilities. The inaugural NFLPA survey, taken during the 2022 season and published last February, did not include a category for ownership.
After the sale, Harris and his ownership group had less than a week to make incremental improvements before the start of training camp. The team had already begun work to install large bleachers to accommodate an influx of fans and a separate area for players’ families. The ownership group has since commissioned $75 million in upgrades to the team’s practice facility and stadium, which include structural improvements, alterations to parking and traffic flow at the stadium and improvements to premium seating areas, along with a new sound system, a new video board and new suites.
“This is not a shaming exercise,” NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell said. “I know that some of the owners have probably interpreted it that way. No one likes to get a bad grade. Myself included. But this is really, as I see it, an opportunity to recognize … those teams, those environments that are doing well, that are doing all the right things.”
Commanders players gave the highest marks to the team’s strength and conditioning staff, which received an A grade and ranked fifth among all NFL teams. The strength staff tied for first in the league in the 2023 report card.
Some returning players noted the improvements from 2022, with new family events and a more private postgame area. But they also noted the Commanders were still among a minority of teams that didn’t offer family rooms during games or at training facilities.
Commanders players also stated they felt there were not enough athletic trainers and physical therapists, and some said the equipment in the training room was “not up to the standard of a professional sports team,” according to the report card.
Late in the 2023 season, the Commanders brought a consultant, Tim McGrath, to assist the team in evaluating its athletic training, strength and conditioning and nutrition. His work is ongoing and is expected to result in additional changes to the athletic training staff and player wellness operations this year.
Of the Washington players who voted, 76 percent said they felt former coach Ron Rivera was efficient with their time. Rivera, who was fired in January, received a C grade.
This year, the NFLPA’s survey dug deeper into teams’ nutritional offerings and created separate categories for meals and nutritionists. Washington received a D+ grade (27th in the NFL) for its cafeteria and a B- (21st) for its nutritionist.
“We’ve listened to a lot of the players, we’ve met with a lot of the players, trying to understand where we can improve in the building, and I think we have a lot of really good people in the building,” Commanders General Manager Adam Peters said Tuesday at the NFL combine. “It’s just trying to make the player experience better as good as we can. And that’s not easy, but we’re going to make every effort to, so we’re still in the early stages of that.”
The Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings, in that order, claimed the top two spots. The Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars rounded out the top five. The bottom five: the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs and Commanders.
“The league and its clubs always encourage and solicit player feedback to help improve all facets of their NFL experience,” the NFL said in a statement released through a spokesman. “We look forward to getting the opportunity to review the union’s questionnaire, and the data supporting it, after its release to the media.”
The surveys were conducted anonymously online from Aug. 27 to Nov. 16. Commanders players voted Oct. 10, during the team’s meeting with NFLPA representatives.
The Jaguars had the biggest improvement year over year, jumping from 28th in the 2023 survey to fifth in 2024, largely because they opened a new training facility. Notably, the Dallas Cowboys dropped seven spots, going from fifth in the 2023 survey to 12th. The primary impetus for the change, according to the NFLPA, was that players felt the athletic training room was understaffed and unequipped to provide necessary individual treatment.
“There is room for improvement and to get things better by every team,” NFLPA president JC Tretter said. “And I think most of the teams chose to act on the results and make things better.”
The NFLPA stressed the working conditions and grades don’t necessarily correlate to a team’s record.
For the Chiefs, there was a notable contrast; the team won its second consecutive Super Bowl this season, but it ranked 31st overall, and its chairman and CEO, Clark Hunt, received the lowest ranking among owners because of the team’s perceived unwillingness to invest in players and facilities. Chiefs players lauded Coach Andy Reid and noted the team had addressed one complaint from the 2023 survey, providing chairs with backs at their lockers instead of stools. But players reported the team did not fulfill its promise to renovate the locker room after Kansas City’s Super Bowl LVII victory.
Asked if the Chiefs’ ranking might fuel a perception that teams do not need to invest more into players and facilities to be successful, Tretter said: “I think there’s only one Patrick Mahomes out there, so I don’t think it really can be replicated.”
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