6 rings & Football things: Pats get pummeled in latest NFLPA Team Report Card
The 2023 season was one to forget in many ways for the New England Patriots both on and off the field. Ask many fans what grade they’d give the season and it would likely be one that your parents wouldn’t be too happy with were it on your report card. And as far as the players from the team were concerned, they weren’t exactly thrilled with their work environment in any way, either. Which may have reflected in some way with their on-field performance. In fact, according to a new survey, they seem to have been flat-out disgusted.
According to the NFL’s annual Player Team Report Cards, the New England Patriots finished 29th out of 32 teams in terms of working conditions and environment, a shocking grade it would seem for the one time marquis franchise of the NFL. However, last season the Patriots finished a disappointing 26th overall. That the team regressed and fell further behind in 2023 only highlights some of the many issues the team dealt with during their 4-13 campaign.
The Patriots received not one but two failing grades; weight room (F) and Treatment of Families (F-). How anyone receives a grade lower than failing is difficult to comprehend (though they were not the only ones). In 2023 they scored a C+ in weight room and a C- in the family department, so each category saw a steep decline this past season.
The highest grade was a tie across three categories: Food, Nutrition and Training Staff. Each received a B-, so no single part of the player facility and game day experience was stellar or above and beyond expectations for the player last season. The highest rated team for 2023 was the Miami Dolphins, who ousted the previously highest ranked team, the Minnesota Vikings. The Dolphins received A’s of various degrees across the board. The Patriots have a lot of catching up to do, it seems, in their division, in more ways than one.
Change has swept through the Patriots organization in many ways this offseason, with the departure of head coach Bill Belichick and much of his staff, and the hiring of first time coach Jerod Mayo and a whole host of new assistants, coordinators, scouts and more. The hope certainly will be that the on field product improves dramatically, which could reflect an improvement and upgrade in multiple behind-the-scenes facilities, operations, protocols and more.
Perhaps, as Eliot Wolf mentioned in his pre-combine presser, the absence of “hard ass vibes” this season will help improve conditions, morale and more. Looks like there’s pretty much nowhere to go but up for the organization at this point.
For the record, the survey is voted on by over 1,700 NFL players, anonymously.
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