NFL players rated each team’s work conditions: See NY Jets’ score

The NFLPA’s newly-released free agency guide for players reveals some interesting things about the New York Jets’ work environment

Despite their seemingly improved culture and roster, the New York Jets may not be such an attractive destination for free agents.

At least, that’s what the consensus seemed to be among NFL players, who gave subpar grades to many elements of the Jets’ staff, stadium, and facilities in the NFL Players Association’s newly-released team report cards. The grades are designed to help free agents in choosing their next destination by highlighting the quality of each team’s work environment.

Players graded their teams in eight categories:

• Treatment of Families
• Food Service / Nutrition
• Weight Room
• Strength Coaches
• Training Room
• Training Staff
• Locker Room
• Team Travel

Overall, the Jets ranked 19th out of the 32 teams. You can view that in several ways: it’s below average, but it’s still roughly in the neighborhood of average. Furthermore, the categories covered in the report card are likely not all created equal for free agents, a fact that may bode poorly for the Jets given their category breakdown.

Here are Gang Green’s grades:

The Jets earned mediocre grades in most areas, as they ranked somewhere from 16th to 21st in six of the eight categories. The exceptions were their training staff (28th) and strength coaches (30th).

The NFLPA’s team page for the Jets notes that “in general, the sentiment is that the facility is getting old and can use upgrading.” It also states “there was nothing overtly problematic” about the facility, but on the downside, “there is nothing that stands out as excellent either.”

Furthermore, the Jets’ coaching staff ranked worst in the NFL in time efficiency.

“The player respondents don’t feel like the coaching staff (ranked last) is efficient with their time as they are routinely at the facilities much later than other teams in the league. Longer hours are not necessarily correlated to winning, as seven of the top eight coaches who ranked most efficient with their players’ time made the playoffs this year.”

New York’s strength coaches were the team’s lowest-ranked category at No. 30 despite earning a B grade that tied for the team’s best. This is because, as the NFLPA’s site notes, “Most teams rated their strength staff very high, which is why they are ranked as tied for 30th”.

However, as Michael Nania points out, the Kansas City Chiefs ranked 29th on the overall report card. It seems like having a generational quarterback might be somewhat more important toward winning.

Not sure how much this correlates with winning, as here are the Chiefs, who ranked 29th overall pic.twitter.com/Umix0jJ3Yk

— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) March 1, 2023

Overall, it’s difficult to know how much players take these factors into account. Free agency negotiations are usually first and foremost about money. Winning is also a big factor for many players.

As seen last year from Tyreek Hill and Jordan Poyer’s recent comments, the state income tax and the climate also do matter to players.

However, some of the comments from players are definitely things that Woody Johnson and Robert Saleh should take note of. You don’t want a relatively minor thing like annoying strength coaches to deter a free agent (Derek Carr?) from coming to the Jets.

Maybe they should add this to the offseason agenda.