NFL players react to league's grievance over team report cards - ESPN

As the NFL seeks to end the annual report cards conducted by the NFL Players Association, players around the league told ESPN reporters Thursday and Friday they support the survey and there have been tangible improvements since it began.

«I think it's a great assessment of how players really feel,» said Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum, who is a 14-year NFL veteran. «It's objective, especially for the people that are actually in the buildings every single day. No disrespect to the National Football League, but a lot of those folks sit in offices at 345 Park [league headquarters in New York City], and you have folks that are doing these reports that are living, breathing, eating, sleeping, working, the whole nine, that are in these buildings every single day.

»It's a great way to be transparent and a great way to keep everybody accountable."

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward, one of 10 NFLPA vice presidents, echoed Beachum's sentiments and added, «I think to stop it, it just kind of feels like you're hiding something.»

The NFL filed a grievance against the players association claiming the report cards violate a collective bargaining agreement clause that states NFL owners and the union must «use reasonable efforts to curtail public comments by club personnel or players which express criticism of any club, its coach, or its operation and policy,» according to an August letter from the league's management council to the NFLPA, obtained by ESPN. For the latest report card published in February, 1,695 players leaguewide responded to the surveys, which were administered from Aug. 26 to Nov. 20, 2024, and include grades on everything from head coach to team travel to the locker room.