While the NFL won its appeal against the NFL Players Association’s annual report cards that criticized the team owners, the released documents about the grades did something the league feared. The NFL has initiated a grievance to prevent the NFLPA from publicly airing its criticisms of teams and owners. However, the 26-page ruling from arbitrator Scott E. Buchheit about the grades issued by players revealed the worst-graded owner in the league.

This was none other than New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, as per the ruling reported by NBC Sports.

“The Union also graded owner Woody Johnson an F — the lowest owner rating in the league, 5.58 out of 10 — which, according to Players, resulted from his perceived unwillingness to invest in facilities. Players cited ‘perceived top leadership issues,’ with some describing issues as ‘top-down problems’—reflecting ownership concerns.”

The ruling further detailed why Johnson received the only F grade among the 32 teams across the league. While it highlighted the franchise’s unwillingness to make the required changes following the previous report cards, the report revealed the key reasons were Johnson’s decisions regarding the food budget and the firing of a long-time dietitian.

“The Union said Players complained that ‘management responded to feedback [from prior Team Report Cards] by making conditions worse,’ including cutting the food budget and not retaining a long-time dietician after poor food grades the prior year,” the ruling shared by NBC Sports revealed.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

While these reports from the NFLPA about the teams and owners will remain private, this recent ruling regarding the New York Jets owner, Woody Johnson, highlights the franchise’s inability to implement the changes players demanded, which has led to its disappointing record over the decade.

Considered one of the worst teams in the NFL, the New York Jets have failed to reach the playoffs since their AFC Championship appearance in 2010. From that point forward, the franchise has recorded 12 losing seasons, with the recently concluded 2025-26 season being the tenth consecutive with a negative record.

Following the ruling on the Players Association’s team owner report cards, several prominent NFL players, both active and retired, have voiced their displeasure about the decision, including former three-time Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt.

J.J. Watt slams ruling against NFLPA’s team report cards

Houston Texans legend J.J. Watt took to social media to call out the NFL and the team owners’ hypocrisy after the ruling against the NFLPA’s team report cards. The star defensive end highlighted how the league allows constant scrutiny of its players with various rankings on national television but isn’t happy with the criticism towards the team owners.

“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.

Even though the league and owners are pushing ahead with the ruling against the NFLPA’s team report cards, J.J. Watt’s comments reveal what the players think about this decision.