JJ Watt was not happy with the NFL suppressing the reach of player-voted report cards grading every NFL team.
The NFL announced Friday that the league won its grievance against the NFL Players Association over the union’s publishing of its annual team report cards. The report cards are based on the NFLPA’s surveys of active players on various aspects of their day-to-day experiences with their respective teams.
Players give a letter grade for their facilities, such as the locker room, cafeteria, and training room. They also assess team personnel, including the head coach, training staff, and even the team owner.
The survey results have put some NFL franchises on blast over the past few years, which is why the league successfully pushed to have the results no longer visible to the public. The league argued that the annual survey, as conducted in the past, violated the collective bargaining agreement because it was “disparaging NFL clubs and individuals.”
Watt let his feelings be known, calling out what he believed to be a hypocrisy from the NFL. The legendary pass rusher blasted the league for keeping team report cards hidden from public view while players are openly graded by a third-party company like Pro Football Focus.
“NFL won’t let actual players grade the workplace they attend every single day, but they’ll allow a 3rd party “grading” service to display their “rankings” of players on national television every Sunday night…”
NFL won’t let actual players grade the workplace they attend every single day, but they’ll allow a 3rd party “grading” service to display their “rankings” of players on national television every Sunday night… https://t.co/JBQXOgFZIN
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) February 13, 2026
Watt wasn’t alone in his reaction. Several other sports figures and athletes slammed the decision on social media.
The NFLPA won’t be barred from conducting the survey and sharing the results with the league and its teams. The results just won’t be made public as they have been throughout the years.
The arbitrator who made the ruling reportedly stated that the NFL report cards were “designed by the union to advance its interests under the guise of a scientific exercise.” The NFLPA reportedly did not share data on past surveys, and some data points were “cherry-picked” by the union.
While the players provided grades for their respective teams, they were not involved in crafting the commentary that always accompanied the reports. The NFLPA also had the discretion to apply weight to certain topics that “directly impacted the final alphabetical grade for each team.”
