The NFLPA has released its annual franchise report cards, and the Bengals’ 2026 marks have been revealed. Last offseason, after unveiling new locker rooms, the Bengals’ marks improved, but there was still a lot of work that needed to be done.
According to their 2026 grades, that work has not been done.
The Bengals finished No. 28 overall out of the 32 teams, and their lowest grades were the same as they were last offseason. They earned an F- for Food/Dining area, an F for Nutritionist/Dietician, and an F- for Treatment of Families. The Home Game Field was a D-, and for team travel, players gave them a C-. The General Manager grade (Duke Tobin) was a C, and owner Mike Brown earned a grade of D-.
Other than that, everything is an A or a B.
There’s good news and bad news here, depending on how you want to look at it.
The optimist would say, “Well, the game field, owner, and probably GM aren’t getting changed anytime soon, but hire a couple of chefs and a team of dieticians, and create a family-friendly space in the building, and those lowest grades go up!”
That is true.
It is also true that they received the same grades in 2025. They were the same in 2024. For such a simple fix, it sure is getting done, so it stands to reason it’s not on the radar of the front office. Maybe when the new indoor practice space is completed, but for now, that only exists on blueprints.
There is more good news. There seems to be a fairly high level of confidence in their coordinators and assistant coaches, and for the second-consecutive year, they gave Zac Taylor an A. It hasn’t translated to wins on the field, but the players seem to still be buying Taylor’s message. That level of stability hopefully helps them get to the playoffs in 2026.
Overall, there is some good, some meh, and some really bad. The really bad shouldn’t be too tough to rectify, but the Bengals don’t seem interested, at least not as of yet. That probably has something to do with the Ownership score dropping from a C to a D.
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