The NFL has prevailed in the grievance it filed against the NFL Players Association concerning the union’s annual team report cards that evaluate player working conditions.
An arbitrator determined that the NFLPA’s actions breached the collective bargaining agreement, stating that releasing those report cards publicly was harmful to teams and certain individuals. The ruling also directs the NFLPA to stop publishing or otherwise sharing the results of the team report cards going forward.
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But after the news hit the NFL world, NFL legend and former Houston Texans star, JJ Watt, took direct aim at the National Football League and how it handles third-party report cards on teams.
MORE: NFL’s latest win over NFLPA might silence transparency around the league
“[The] 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,” Watt wrote on X. The San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle also backed his view by commenting with only three words on his post: “Go off, JJ”.
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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
On Friday, the NFL notified all 32 franchises that it had won the grievance it submitted in mid-November. The dispute stems from a program the NFLPA launched in 2023. Players were asked to anonymously rate their teams on everyday workplace standards.
That included locker room quality, travel setup, food services, medical support, coaching staff, and family amenities. The union later converted the responses into graded report cards and released them publicly during Combine week. The goal was to pressure clubs into addressing weaknesses within their organizations.
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The impact was uneven. A few teams responded by hiring more staff, upgrading meal programs, and improving family areas on game days.
Both the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals moved forward with plans for new practice facilities after landing near the bottom. But many owners pushed back. They viewed public grading as reputational damage and maintained that players already had formal channels to privately flag concerns.
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