The league, under Commissioner Roger Goodell, pushed aggressively to eliminate the NFLPA report cards. An arbitrator ultimately decided in favor of the NFL, handing them a victory in the dispute. However, insiders warn that this decision could soon bite the league hard.

“This one is going to backfire on Big Shield,” Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk noted, referencing Roger Goodell with his ‘protecting the shield’ mantra. “The report cards will now take on greater importance, because it’s clear the league doesn’t want them to be created or reviewed.”

On Friday (February 13), the NFL announced through a memo that it “prevailed” in the grievance filed against the NFLPA over these annual report cards. The decision cited several reasons (which we’ll detail shortly), but it’s the league’s fierce push that’s really raising eyebrows.

These report cards began in 2023, grading teams on facilities, food, nutrition, locker rooms, and more. According to the NFLPA, they help players make smarter career choices, like picking the right team based on these rankings. Yet Roger Goodell and the NFL pursued a grievance against them in November, securing the win but now facing tough questions: Is the league still not ready to face criticism, or is it hiding deeper issues?

Well, it looks like a mix of both.

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“The arbitrator held that the publication of Report Cards disparaging NFL clubs and individuals violates the Collective Bargaining Agreement and issued an Order prohibiting the NFLPA from publishing or publicly disclosing the results of future player Report Cards,” the NFL memorandum read.

The NFLPA can still conduct its surveys privately. The real restriction targets “publishing or publicly disclosing the results.” But as Florio points out, that ban just amps up the intrigue, making leaks to the media almost inevitable.

“The players will be more determined to provide frank and candid feedback. The media will be more determined to obtain and disseminate it. And fans will be more determined to consume the supposedly forbidden information,” Florio added.

The memo laid out key reasons for the restrictions:

• The union “cherry-picked” responses to fit the narrative they wanted.
• The commentary was written entirely by the union.
• It decided which topics to highlight and which to ignore.

The NFL seems “pleased” with the outcome. But players across the league are far from happy, and their reactions are already fueling a storm.

Roger Goodell’s report card ban ignites player fury

As news broke of the NFL prevailing over the NFLPA, league insider Adam Schefter shared the memo details. That’s when Texans legend J.J. Watt fired back with a pointed response.

“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 posted on X.

Watt clearly opposes silencing the players’ own workplace report cards. In the process, he took an indirect shot at Pro Football Focus, and its player grades flashed during Sunday Night Football broadcasts. Something he’s criticized directly for some time now.

“You can’t break down a person’s grade and know what they’re supposed to do if you don’t know their exact assignment,” Watt said on The Pat McAfee Show in October. “I know defensive line play unbelievably well. I could not go and grade a game for a player and give him a definitive grade without speaking to him, his coach, the scheme, everything. It’s a fact. PFF has a ton of great stuff. Player grading sucks. Stopping putting it out.”

That said, the NFLPA already released the 2025 report cards, ranking the Miami Dolphins near the top in nearly every category, from facilities to nutrition. But moving forward, the focus shifts entirely to the 2026 free agency cycle.

With the legal tampering window opening on March 9, the league’s attempt to bury these grades will only fuel the media’s scramble for leaks. Once those unregulated rankings hit the timeline, Roger Goodell might just have a much messier PR nightmare on his hands.