USA TODAY International Edition
Report card time: Shame on NFL teams
That the Washington Commanders are a horribly run franchise, skimping on food, trainers and even warm water in the showers, is hardly a surprise. It is, after all, a day that ends in Y.
But what’s your excuse, Jacksonville Jaguars? Rats in your training facility? I thought Urban was gone. And you, Arizona Cardinals. Deducting the cost of players’ dinners at the facility from their paychecks? Is a bake sale to pay for new uniforms next?
Perhaps most damning in the NFL Players Association’s first- ever league report card are the complaints from Kansas City Chiefs players about head trainer Rick Burkholder, who just last year was recognized by the NFL Physicians Society as the league’s outstanding athletic trainer for, in part, “the highest level of professionalism.” Kansas City’s training staff was rated worst in the league in the NFLPA survey, largely because of Burkholder, with players saying they felt “discouraged from reporting their injuries” and “fear retribution for speaking up for better care.”
“Understand that the categories ( in the survey) are both specific to the job of an NFL player and make a difference in the daily experience in our jobs,” union president J. C. Tretter said. “We also believe that each club has the resources – and an obligation – to ensure that things like weight rooms are in the best possible condition, training rooms are properly staffed and each interaction with players from club personnel is a positive one.”
That it isn’t even the bare minimum for some NFL teams is an embarrassment to the entire league.
And further indictment of how callously the NFL and its owners regard the players.
The NFL has long been accused of treating players as commodities. Not having guaranteed contracts means NFL players don’t have the security NBA and Major League Baseball players do. The pills and shots that are practically a requirement to stay on the field can cause long- term damage. The treatment of retirees, especially those with health problems, is shameful.
But the NFLPA’s report cards show this disregard permeates every part of an NFL player’s life. Not all teams – the Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders were the gold standard – but too many aren’t providing their players with the basic necessities to do their jobs.
Strength training is essential for any athlete, so having a weight room that isn’t a safety hazard should be a given. Not in Arizona! Cardinals players gave their weight room an F- – who knew such a grade actually existed – and said the flooring is so bad it is a “health and safety risk just to walk through” it.
Adequate nutrition is also a job requirement, and players are often at their training facilities long beyond the hours of “regular” working hours. Yet three of the 32 teams don’t offer dinner, and players at several teams said there isn’t enough food in their cafeterias.
Some of the services – or lack thereof – offered to players’ families is also stunning. Nearly half the league, 14 teams, don’t have a family room on game days.
That might not seem like a big deal, but imagine your spouse bringing your kids to a game in Pittsburgh in December or Jacksonville in September and there being nowhere to go to escape the elements. Or obnoxious fans.
Players from at least two teams said the support provided to families was so nonexistent their wives had to sit on the floor of the stadium’s public bathrooms to breastfeed. What kind of message does that send to players about how valued they really are?
“Players feel like they provide the bare minimum to say they do things for the families, but they do not actually try to take care of them,” one report card said.
It’s not as if owners are lacking the resources to provide these basics, either.
The NFL is closing in on yearly revenues of $ 20 billion – that’s billion with a B – and each team received more than $ 345 million from the league’s revenue sharing pool in 2021. Local revenue pad each team’s bottom line even further. Owners can afford to upgrade their facilities, pay for dinners and make sure players feel their families are being cared for, all without having to hock their yacht or private plane.
After all, it is the players who are responsible for their teams’ riches.
Aside from the general humiliation – again, the Jaguars had rats in their facility. For weeks! – what should concern owners most is that players now have a point of comparison. You think free agents won’t remember the rave reviews for the Raiders facilities or that string of A grades the Vikings got in every category? Or that agents aren’t taking notes about which teams seem fine with their players toiling in substandard working conditions?
“For the first time, we are peeling back the curtain on issues that we talk about among ourselves as players,” Tretter wrote.
The survey revealed what players think of their teams.
But in doing so, it also revealed how little so many owners think of their players.