TL;DR
- The NFL filed a formal complaint against the NFLPA, requesting they stop issuing player report cards.
- The NFL claims the report cards violate the collective bargaining agreement by publicly criticizing teams.
- The NFLPA plans to proceed with its report card survey, stating it's an effective tool for workplace standards.
- The NFL seeks an arbitrator to resolve the dispute over the annual player report cards.
Annually, the NFL players' union carries out "report cards" across all 32 NFL clubs, offering a look into how players evaluate their team's standing in different areas, from training facilities to how their families are treated.
Nevertheless, the NFL has recently initiated a formal complaint against the NFLPA, according to ESPN, requesting that the players' association cease its practice of issuing those report cards. The complaint stated "the exercise violates the collective bargaining agreement by airing public criticism of teams," per ESPN.
The NFLPA reportedly has plans to move forward with its next survey anyway, despite gripes from owners — including New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, who called the report card surveys "totally bogus" at a league meeting in March, according to ESPN.
Information regarding the dispute between the NFL and NFLPA concerning the yearly "report cards."
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NFL owners aim to halt NFLPA report cards
According to ESPN, a letter from the NFL's management council to NFLPA general counsel Tom DePaso from August 2025 included claims from the league that the NFLPA's annual report cards violate a CBA clause that says both NFL owners and the union must "use reasonable efforts to curtail public comments by club personnel or players which express criticism of any club, its coach, or its operation and policy."
In the letter, the NFL asked the NFLPA to discontinue the report cards, claiming they air "public criticism of teams," per ESPN.
In the letter, the league also contended that the NFL and NFLPA had previously consented to a joint survey concerning player welfare "and other relevant topics" every three years. The NFL contended that the NFLPA's report cards "adversely affected the reliability of the CBA-mandated survey." The joint survey mentioned by the NFL was last carried out in 2015, where league and union representatives met privately with teams to discuss areas needing enhancement.
However, after the NFLPA had "months of discussions" with the league about the report cards, it recently informed players of the NFL's grievance and said it still plans to move forward with this year's report card survey.
"We have responded to the grievance with our intention to fight against this action and continue what's clearly become an effective tool for comparing workplace standards across the league and equipping you to make informed career decisions," the NFLPA wrote in an email to players, according to ESPN.
This also reportedly isn't the first time the NFL has asked the NFLPA to halt its report cards. In 2024 and in June 2025, the NFLPA declined requests to end the report cards, per ESPN. The NFL is now " trying to have the issue heard by an arbitrator," with hopes of a resolution by February 2026.
During an owner's meeting, the NFLPA's report cards were reportedly discussed, with ownership sources informing ESPN that the report cards offer only "general grades" and lack specific feedback, "they serve as an instrument to mock teams without telling them which areas need improvement."
During NFL league meetings in March 2025, Jets owner Woody Johnson referred to the report cards "totally bogus" and suggested they might contravene the CBA, according to ESPN. Johnson allegedly expressed dissatisfaction with "how they collected the information [and] who they collected it from."
"[It] was supposed to be according to the agreement we have with the league. It's supposed to be a process [where] we have representatives and they have representatives, so we know that it's an honest survey," Johnson said, per ESPN. "And that was violated, in my opinion. I'm going to leave it at that, but I think there are a lot of owners that looked at that survey and said this is not fair, it's not balanced, it's not every player, it's not even representative of the players."
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What are NFLPA report cards?
Every year, the NFLPA releases "report cards" that grade teams, from A to F, on various categories in terms of how they treat their players.
The NFLPA's report cards site says the goal of the report cards is to "improve the overall working conditions for our players, which includes the daily experience of players at the team facilities away from the lights and cameras," and also to "help raise standards across the league."
In 2025, the categories that were graded included: Treatment of families, food/dining area, nutritionist/dietician, locker room, training room, training staff, weight room, strength coaches, team travel, head coach and ownership.
According to ESPN, in the NFLPA's email to players about the NFL's grievance over the report cards, it told players that teams had been improving working conditions based on data from the annual survey, including nine teams improving their "family services" score over time.
NFLPA report cards 2024
A total of 1,695 players participated in the NFLPA's report card survey for the 2024 season, with the results published in February 2025.
According to the survey, NFL teams saw their grades rise by an average of 3.5 points, according to The Athletic, and experienced a 41% jump in "As" from players. The Los Angeles Chargers, Washington Commanders, and Atlanta Falcons all demonstrated notable grade enhancements compared to the previous year's survey.
The Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings achieved the top average scores across the board. The Dolphins (Stephen Ross), Vikings (Zygi Wilf), and Falcons (Arthur Blank) were the three franchises awarded an A+ for ownership, whereas the Jets (Woody Johnson) were given an F for their ownership.
Six teams earned an A+ for their head coaches (Commanders, Falcons, Vikings, Chiefs, Lions, Dolphins), with no teams scoring lower than a C.
Here were the other "F" or "F-" grades assessed in the 2024 survey:
- Team Travel: Eagles (F), Patriots (F), Bills (F-)
- Weight Room: Cardinals (F), Patriots (F)
- Locker Room: Commanders (F), Broncos (F), Browns (F-), Cardinals (F-)
- Food/Dining Area: Bengals (F)
- Treatment of Families: Jaguars (F), Bengals (F-)
Full results from the NFLPA 2024 season player's report cards can be found here.