Survey of NFL players gives Denver Broncos organization low grades

National Football League Players Association released a “Report Card” on Wednesday grading each NFL team on core issues to illuminate the daily experience of playing for any single club, and the Denver Broncos may get detention for their marks.

The survey was conducted by 1,300 players from 2022 rosters grading only the current team that they are on. The NFLPA both wanted to highlight clubs treating players right and inform players ahead of free agency of workplaces where the environment needs to improve. The goal was to highlight the best practices and educate members of the NFLPA in hopes of this information leading to changes that better the lives and workplaces of players.

The Broncos didn’t rank in the top 10 for any of the categories asked about, in fact, they actually finished bottom five in the league in one and wound up with a 2.42 GPA overall, which ranked 21st in the NFL. Denver got D+ or worse for their treatment of families, nutrition and locker room quality.

Here is summary of @NFLPA #Broncos’ rankings #Denver7 pic.twitter.com/kKQheKKQfC

— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) March 1, 2023

The Broncos ranked the best in team travel among the league and got their only A- for strength coaches. That strength coach has been replaced.

So it appears the orange and blue will have to climb out of the NFL’s bottom tier in both the standings and how they treat their most famous employees.

Here is the NFLPA’s explainer on how this survey was conducted:

DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS, THE BOARD OF REPRESENTATIVES HAS DISCUSSED WAYS TO IMPROVE THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO FREE AGENTS MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR PROSPECTIVE CLUBS AND DECIDED TO PURSUE THE DEVELOPMENT OF “CLUB REPORT CARDS” THAT, WHILE NOT A SCIENTIFIC SURVEY, WOULD REPORT THE QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE OPINIONS OF NFL PLAYERS ABOUT THEIR RESPECTIVE CLUBS.

IN CONNECTION WITH THAT GOAL, QUESTIONS WERE SENT TO EVERY PLAYER ON THE 2022 TEAM ROSTERS ASKING THEM THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT THEIR CLUB’S FACILITIES, CERTAIN CLUB PERSONNEL/COACHES, AND OTHER WORK-RELATED CATEGORIES, SUCH AS CLUB’S TREATMENT OF FAMILIES AND TEAM TRAVEL (PLAYERS WERE NOT ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY CLUB OTHER THAN THEIR 2022 EMPLOYER). AS A RESULT OF THE CONFIDENTIAL QUESTIONNAIRE, 1,300 PLAYERS RESPONDED. THERE THEN WAS A QUALITATIVE FOLLOW UP BY THE UNION, WHICH RESULTED IN THE FOLLOWING “REPORT CARD.”

THE QUESTIONS CALLED FOR BOTH QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANSWERS; FOR EXAMPLE: “GRADE YOUR WEIGHT ROOM WITH 1 REFLECTING BEST RATING, 5 REFLECTING LOWEST RATING” AND “WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT YOUR WEIGHT ROOM?” THE NUMERICAL RATINGS FOR EACH SUB-CATEGORY OF QUESTIONS WERE TALLIED AND AVERAGED. THE QUESTIONNAIRE ALSO SOUGHT TO ELICIT THE OPINION OF PLAYERS ON SOME ISSUES THAT HAVE A DIRECT IMPACT ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR NFL PLAYERS. THESE QUALITATIVE RESPONSES, WHICH ARE INHERENTLY SUBJECTIVE, WERE REVIEWED AND EVALUATED BY THE UNION AND THEN FACTORED INTO PROVIDING AN OVERALL RATING THAT WAS INTENDED TO REFLECT PLAYER OPINIONS.

BASED UPON ALL OF THIS INFORMATION, THE RANKINGS FROM CLUB TO CLUB WERE DETERMINED BY COMPARING HOW EACH CLUB GRADED IN EACH CATEGORY.

FINALLY, THE CLUB REPORT CARD INCLUDES AN OVERVIEW, WHICH IS A SUMMARY OF THE PLAYERS’ RESPONSES AND OPINIONS ABOUT THE CLUB WORKPLACE AND SPECIFICALLY ABOUT HOW PLAYERS PERCEIVED CLUBS’ COMMITMENT TO WORKPLACE ISSUES.

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