The NFL wants to put an end to the annual team report cards, per a report by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr.
The report cards grade franchises on 11 categories related to things like the quality of their nutritionist/dietician, food/dining services, and how they treat families.
In case you’re curious, the Cincinnati Bengals finished last in those three categories, with grades of C, F, and F- respectively.
Overall, the Bengals finished a somewhat respectable 24 out of 32 franchises, partly due to rebuilding the training room and locker room, increasing the number of meals provided, and hiring people the players like working with.
The topic of doing away with grades first came up at a recent owners meeting, according to ESPN.
The league then filed a grievance against the NFL Players Association, claiming that the polls violate a CBA clause.
The clause in question says that both 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.”
But the NFLPA is pushing back. The union sent an email to players citing data that showed teams had actually improved their conditions on account of the report cards. Nine teams improved their family services score by two or more grades, and 12 teams improved two or more grades in travel scores.
Still, many owners are not convinced the polls are productive.
One exec claimed the grades aren’t specific enough to actually be constructive. “They just take snippets to embarrass people without sharing the data,” the exec said.
And New York Jets chairman Woody Johnson called the surveys “totally bogus” at a league meeting back in March. Johnson was one of five owners to receive a grade of “D” or worse.
Meanwhile, at least one owner isn’t buying the criticism, saying, “The only owners who don’t care for [the report cards] are the ones who get the subpar grades.”
While Mike Brown would fall into that category, it is not clear if he or Katie Blackburn voiced their opinion on the team grades.
For now, the Bengals are focused on avoiding an embarrassing third-straight year of missing the playoffs.
The task in front of them is defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in a big AFC North showdown.
Here’s a one-minute preview of that game with UrinatingTree.
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