Since 2023, the NFLPA has been conducting anonymous player surveys on various matters to hold the franchise and the league accountable. Last year, nearly 1,700 players took part in it. However, in mid-November 2025, the NFL filed a grievance against the same. It begged the question: Are you trying to hide something? The players did not support the move from the beginning, and as the NFL has won its case, many have voiced their concerns again.
"NFL won't let actual players grade the workplace they attend every single day," former defensive end of the Houston Texans , JJ Watt , who played 12 seasons in the league, wrote in his X post. "But they'll allow a 3rd party 'grading' service to display their 'rankings' of players on national television every Sunday night…"
The topic in focus is the NFL Players Association's annual team report cards.
The surveys are done anonymously, where the players, who work, eat, and stay in the facilities for several hours throughout the season, can grade their teams on travel, locker rooms, medical care, nutrition, training staff, and family support. While the survey for the 2025 season is already done to be released in spring 2026, the NFL decided those grades must stay secret.
The reason is simple:
According to the memo, it violated the agreement clause that states 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."
They were also not on board with the methods used to create the final results, either, considering that the union had the final say, and not the players.
Owners were not exactly thrilled by the publicized surveys either.
The franchise owners did address the complaints. For instance, the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals both agreed to build new practice facilities. The Patriots worked on travel and weight room issues after receiving F grades last year. The Broncos went from a D in food service and nutrition in 2023 to a B+/A‑ last season.
Some increased the size of their training staffs and cafeteria offerings, and improved the areas designed to accommodate families at the stadiums on game days. The general feeling around it, however, remained that these surveys painted the owners and the league officials in a bad light.
But here's where what Watt said also made sense: during the broadcast of games, players' stats and rankings are viewed on the television, which may influence their likeness in a team. However, there is no such grievance filed by the active players to stop it. This ruling, though, stops players from publicly sharing honest feedback about their teams.
Watt's post highlights growing anger among players who feel their voices are being silenced in a billion-dollar league. And so, they also supported the former player's voice publicly.
The San Francisco 49ers ' tight end George Kittle immediately showed support for Watt, tweeting, "Go off jj." And he wasn't the only one.
The NFLPA itself gave its decision on Friday's ruling in favor of the league.
Both the NFL and the NFLPA jointly appointed and paid an arbitrator to work on the case. In his findings, he deduced that the concept of a report card that held the players' workplace accountable was completely okay.
However, they also agreed that the union filtering the results by cherry-picking which topics and responses to include (or not) before publishing them was not correct. They also understood the concerns of the owners about a publicized report card that put them in the wrong spotlight.
On Friday, a result was reached, and the league immediately released a memo to its 32 teams:
"We are pleased with the decision from the arbitrator, upholding the parties' collective bargaining agreement and prohibiting the NFLPA from disparaging our clubs and individuals through 'report cards' allegedly based on data and methodologies that it has steadfastly refused to disclose.
"We remain committed to working in partnership with the NFLPA and an independent survey company to develop and administer a scientifically valid survey to solicit accurate and reliable player feedback as the parties agreed in the CBA."
With this announcement out, the NFLPA also quickly responded.
"The program is not going away," the statement pledged.
"The ruling upholds our right to survey players and share the results with players and clubs. While we strongly disagree with the restriction on making those results public, that limitation does not stop the program or its impact. Players will continue to receive the results, and teams will continue to hear directly from their locker rooms."
Since the arbitrator acknowledged that the fair, balanced, and increasingly positive over time, the NFLPA will continue with the practice that exists to "ensure players' experiences are heard, respected, and acted on — by their teams, by their union, and wherever else possible."
Naturally, the post by Watt quickly became a topic of discussion across the league.
After J.J. Watt's post, other reporters and fans quickly joined in, criticizing the NFLPA decision to block report cards and calling for transparency and accountability in team workplaces.
A co-host of The Athletic football show wrote on X , "seems telling that rather than try to tweak or improve the methodology they're just shutting it down."
It is important to note that after their win, the league announced that they will work with an independent survey company, along with the NFLPA, to amend the process of how the data is collected. Yet, the co-host of Golic & Golic of FanDuelSN added, "gutless. scared to compete."
Reporter Jenna Cottrell wrote, "billion-dollar industry that can't handle a little feedback."
All these comments depict that the NFLPA report cards were meant to create accountability and improve conditions for players. Without them, transparency is lost, and players lose a public way to push for change. Many now call for the NFLPA to rethink its strategy before the next collective bargaining talks.
There were some who even highlighted the positive impact of the report cards.
Andrew Mason from DenverSports 1043 wrote, "Heaven forbid the clubs be held publicly accountable. For the Broncos, the areas in which the team fell short have been targeted for improvement, e.g., the team went from a D in food service/nutrition in the 2023 report card to a B+/A- in the one issued last year."
Other reporters added context on player safety and family treatment. An NFL reporter noted, "Beyond the discussion of public shaming, question is 'How did the NFLPA lose this??'"
ESPN reporter Jenna Laine wrote that some teams take the feedback seriously and work to improve conditions for players. However, the report being public was the bigger concern for the owners, and not the survey being conducted.
Players were already not happy about the league's action to even file for such a grievance. "I think it's a great assessment of how players really feel," Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum said in November. "It's objective, especially for the people that are actually in the buildings every single day."
One of the NFLPA's ten vice presidents and the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward added, "I think to stop it, it just kind of feels like you're hiding something."
Watt's repost sparked a larger debate about players' voices. With support from Kittle and others, the NFLPA decision is being questioned by everyone. The league faces criticism for silencing feedback that could improve the workplace for those who make it successful. How the discussion evolves remains a question.
