Panthers do not fare well in annual NFLPA survey

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports...28429.html


The NFL Players Association’s annual survey was released on Wednesday, and the results showed the Carolina Panthers still have many areas for organizational improvement. The Panthers earned the 25th overall ranking out of 32 NFL teams, according to the survey. That was a drop of eight spots from a year prior. 

The survey cited “a lack of space in the facility, declining travel conditions and the continued use of turf over grass” as the primary reasons why the organization earned such a low grade in the eyes of its players. 

Similar to last year, too, David Tepper also earned an underwhelming mark. The Panthers earned a D- grade in “ownership” — 31st out of 32 teams. Tepper ranked only ahead of the New York Jets’ Woody Johnson. Per the survey overview: “The need for renovations and the continued use of turf instead of grass, perhaps because it is cheaper to maintain, continue to be drivers owner David Tepper’s low grade.” 

The NFLPA survey began in 2023 as a way for the NFLPA to further advocate for their membership: to push for better field surfaces and standardized safety protocols and more. It’s also a roadmap for free agents — both to highlight positive clubs, to identify clubs that need improvement and highlight best practices and standards. Only 35 players took the NFLPA survey in Carolina. That ranks among the bottom-five in participation across the league, NFLPA representatives said in a meeting explaining the results on Wednesday. The team with the most survey participation was the New York Giants with 68 players. The survey was administered from Aug. 26 to Nov. 20. 

Tepper Sports and Entertainment announced last year robust plans to renovate Bank of America Stadium. Those plans included the construction of an indoor practice facility in uptown, something that veteran Adam Thielen said is overdue. 

Another low mark came in “team travel,” where the Panthers earned a “D” grade. The survey cites that fewer players feel they had a comfortable amount of personal space on team flights this year “because coaches moved into first class seats, leaving players with smaller seats.” 

The organization earned top-10 distinctions in its treatment of families, its nutritionist and its training staff. According to the survey, 79% of the players reported that they get an individualized nutrition plan and that the team dietitian is “very accessible.” Kate Callaway is the director of performance of nutrition, and Tim Rabas is the performance nutrition assistant, according to the team website. 

The survey also says the team frequently organizes family events and provides a daycare and a family room during home games, bumping up the family score. 

As for the training staff: 89% of Panthers players report that they receive enough one-on-one treatment, and that the training staff moderately contributes to their overall success. The team hired former Bills associate athletic trainer Denny Kellington as the new vice president of player health and performance earlier this month. Kellington replaced former head athletic trainer Kevin King and former director of health, performance and innovation Andrew Althoff, who were let go during the offseason. 


Panthers’ NFLPA grades in 2025 

Treatment of families: B+, 7th 

Food / dining area: B, 18th

Nutritionist / dietitian: A-, 8th

 Locker room: C, 20th 

Training room: B-, 18th

Training staff: B+, 7th

 Weight room: C+, 27th

Strength coaches: A, 8th

Team travel: D, 29th

 Head coach: A-, 17th

Ownership: D-, 31st

I stumbled on to an expanded version of this -- direct from the NFLPA. The information in the Observer article was accurate, no doubt. However, it does not tell the whole story. The Panthers did fall down the rankings some, also, no doubt. However, what I found just as interesting (maybe more so..) was HOW the NFLPA arrives at the numerical scores, as well as WHAT were the apparent "measurables" that drove the rankings. It's very interesting to read some of the summaries from the Panthers as well as some of the other teams. 

SO... For those who are interested, here are some links to the NFLPA's Report Card, some of the underlying tenets, and the complete list of the teams and how they ranked in each category.

NFLPA:  Reasoning and Techniques, Vision and Perspective Behind the Report Cards 

NFLPA:  32 NFL Teams Total Report Cards and Overall Scores 
***(This is a look at Overall numbers for all teams. You can click on each team to see breakouts in different categories. At the bottom of the page, there is a grade scale, a 'weighted' scale, and a section of comments and 'disclaimers' about the gathering of information and reliability of data points...)

NFLPA:  Carolina Panthers - Report Card With Individual Categories
This is the breakout for the Panthers. Categories are listed down the left side of the page. Clicking on a category will open the comment section for your reading pleasure..!!

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*** WOW -- The Arizona Cardinals really sucked in lots of categories.!! ---- AND ---- The Atlanta Falcons blew the top off of most of the categories.!!

*** ALSO --- I don't understand the reasoning behind the "weighted scale" percentages.???  Exactly HOW an owner directly affects a player (generally speaking). The single highest weight was given to "ownership". Other areas, with more direct "impact" were weighted lower and in some cases, MUCH lower (Families; Nutritionists were at the very bottom of the weighted scale.??) --- I think the NFLPA is out of touch.!!

I expect that the results from the NFLPA will ruffle a LOT of feathers. Here is an early response from MSN about the Bills and how Brandon Beane reacted to the survey (NOT GOOD...). There are some interesting tidbits in here...

MSN
by Matt Warren

Bills GM Brandon Beane taken aback by criticism in NFLPA survey...

The NFLPA released results from their anonymous survey of nearly 1700 players this week. The Buffalo Bills slotted in the bottom third overall, with some serious concerns about their travel accommodations and some less-than-rosy reactions to head coach Sean McDermott.

No doubt timed specifically to embarrass underperforming NFL teams right before free agency, the players’ union also happened to release this information while decision-makers for all the NFL teams are in Indianapolis for the NFL’s annual Scouting Combine, ensuring reporters would get a chance to ask questions.

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane spoke with ESPN beat reporter Alaina Getzenberg in Indy on Wednesday afternoon and expressed surprise. Beane shared specifics about the team’s flights, which garnered a dead-last F-minus in voting from players, pulling back the curtain on the decision-making process.

“We put a lot of our players up [in first or business class] on the outbound [flights], we don’t put as many on the return, because depending on when we get back, some of the coaches are up there working on breaking down this film, getting ready for the next week,” Beane said. “So, if anyone’s complaining about not being up there, it couldn’t be on the outbound and maybe would be more on the return.”

He also mentioned that since some coaches head directly to the facility upon landing, they can sometimes receive preference on the return flights. The implication is that players will get to go home and rest while the coaches are going to push through.

Beane also mentioned that the team uses different planes based on the length of the trip, with more space for longer trips. It would seem that players may want to revisit that difference.

“Unfortunately, you can’t put every player up there, which could lead some to be frustrated,” Beane said. “But I would say that at the end of the day, we have open dialogue. This is something I can’t say [has] come to our attention. [Head coach] Sean [McDermott] does a great job of having leadership councils, talking about things that we want in the locker room or how we do things at training camp or sometimes even input on the schedule.”

One of the complaints listed in the survey about McDermott was that he was only “moderately receptive” to his players’ feedback, ranking him 27th among the NFLPA voters. In a separate area of the report, the continued dissatisfaction in the travel arrangements was a source of frustration after the players brought it up in last year’s survey.

“Issues that players previously raised in yearly report card surveys have not been addressed and thus have become greater concerns to the players with the passage of time,” read the opening of the Bills’ overview.

As Beane noted, he’s not sure how many people actually are having a problem. The NFLPA didn’t release team-by-team numbers on voting instead saying that “1,695 of our players provided information to one another”, a number that averages out to roughly 53 players per team. Beane noted that the actual number of NFLPA members in each locker room is higher than that over the course of a year including the practice squad and midseason signings.

“My question is how many people actually completed this survey?” asked Beane. “This is the problem when you do anonymous surveys. Are we talking about six people, 12 people? You’re talking about we have 70-something players when you count our practice squad and beyond. So, it’s really hard to ascertain who gave the F-minus for their plane travel.”

Beane hopes the leaders in the locker room can come voice some specific concerns to the organization, instead of relying on the survey to do the work.

“Ultimately, we love feedback, but we’re not getting that in the building. So, that would be the most constructive way, for us, would be, so we could have that dialogue and explain this is the biggest plane we can get and it’s only going to fit so many people up front,” said Beane.

Notably Beane didn’t mention how other teams handle the travel situation on flights. The Bills are hardly alone in having beefy NFL dudes in the back of a plane, so why are some teams happy with the travel arrangements while others aren’t? What are the teams like the Miami Dolphins doing to earn an A+ rating from their players? How are the Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, Washington Commanders, new Orleans Saints, and Denver Broncos receiving A grades?

It’s not likely we are going to get any Bills players on record any time soon, but Beane and McDermott could still do some more press from the Combine. We’ll see if they keep getting asked about it or it will die away until 12 months from now when the next report is released.

Just a bunch of politics..???  Or is there something else here.???  

The NFLPA, although they would have you believe otherwise, is still just another way of saying "union". They have ONE priority and that is recruiting 'members' and making money for their Board (Okay - TWO priorities..).

A bunch of what they say and do is just a lot of "sour grapes."  IMHO, of course -- IMHO.

Good info on the survey Hobs.  Everything kind of equally weighted with a few exceptions.  Most 9 %........nutrition only 6%???.    Seems like it is very important, IMO.  Head coach 10 %  but look at the owner...a whopping 15%. Well...we are forever screwed.  This weighted thing is hard.  You would think the HC would be a bit more important.

But anyway...thanks for the info and the link.

Union?  Don't mind it.  These insanely rich white men need some oversight.  Otherwise...they would just care about getting richer and not worry about who gets screwed in the process, 

Very interesting information and I don't doubt much of it. But, at the same time, I have to ask myself, is this rating because the team has sucked so bad the past several years, and would it have been higher had the team made the playoffs during that same time?

Very interesting information and I don't doubt much of it.  But, at the same time, I have to ask myself, is this rating because the team has sucked so bad the past several years, and would it have been higher had the team made the playoffs during that same time?

It is not supposed to have anything to do about wins and losses. It is not just a coincidence that bad owners have teams with bad records.

Very interesting information and I don't doubt much of it.  But, at the same time, I have to ask myself, is this rating because the team has sucked so bad the past several years, and would it have been higher had the team made the playoffs during that same time?

It is not supposed to have anything to do about wins and losses. It is not just a coincidence that bad owners have teams with bad records.

I do wish they would put grass back on the field and get rid of that astro-turf.  And send D-Tep packing, too!