Every year, all 32 NFL teams receive report cards from the National Football League Players Association. It's meant to hold teams accountable for things like facility maintenance, coaching quality, and other meaningful aspects to player's experiences with teams while away and at home.
The Cleveland Browns received their report card along with all other teams on Wednesday, and just one day before the official start to the NFL combine. It's crucial to see that teams are actually working to provide a positive work environment for their players, especially considering the physical and mental sacrifice made by players every season to bring wins to a franchise.
Of course, the Browns seem to be failing their players in this respect, based on their report card. And, in two key areas of the report, it seems that the team is letting a majority of their roster down.
Browns fail in 2 key areas on 2024 NFLPA report card
Cleveland failed in a few areas on their report card, but the two that immediately jump out at you are the treatment of players' families and their locker room facilities as well as its staffing.
For the section labeled "Treatment of Families," the Browns received a D+ from players. The report reads that players actually feel like there's a bias towards the families of coaches and staff members for Cleveland, and it's shown through the postgame routine for the Browns.
"The players believe that the coaches’ families are treated better than players’ families. For example, the coaches’ families have a post-game meet up inside the stadium, while the players’ families meet in a tent in the parking lot," reads the report. That's a pretty serious allegation, especially since the Browns' coaching staff didn't exactly kill it in other areas of the report.
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The second key failure was under the section "Locker Room," which received a resounding F- from players. According to the report, only 39 percent of players felt that they had enough room in the locker room and with their individual lockers, which ranked dead last in the league.
As for the size of the room as a whole, only 29 percent of players felt it was "adequate," ranked 31st out of 32 teams. The report notes that since the entire survey was completed, the team worked to add two additional staff members to their training facility, but nothing has been done to address the poor locker room specifically.
"In addition to issues with their locker room, players express concern about poor time management and a lack of culture, accountability, and standards within the organization," said the report in its overview, which was definitely seen through the product and quality of play displayed in 2024.
The team finished up third-worst overall in the league on their report card. That's a very difficult pill to swallow as the Browns try, but struggle, to build themselves back up in the post-Deshaun Watson era.
With no major coaching changes outside of a new offensive coordinator this offseason, it's going to be difficult to imagine a world where players, barring a winning season, feel any differently about the front office or head coach Kevin Stefanski's ability to build a better culture.