INDIANAPOLIS — The Falcons’ grades improved dramatically in the NFLPA report card released early to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the NFL Scouting Combine on Wednesday.
“One of our core values is to listen and respond,” Falcons president Greg Beadles told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We have seen the last couple of years, the NFLPA survey is confirmation that we are paying attention during the year. We are listening to our coaches. We are listening to our players.”
The team’s overall grade improved from 25th to third in the league in voting by the players.
“The Atlanta Falcons saw the biggest improvement in their players’ assessments of the club through the Report Card survey, thanks to major facility upgrades that occurred this past offseason, including a revamped weight room, locker room, and dining area,” according to the NFLPA 2025 report card.
In addition to facility upgrade, there were impactful staff changes, according to the players who voted.
“The club also made staffing decisions that improved the players’ experience,” the NFLPA wrote. “New head coach Raheem Morris has positively changed the culture in just his first year. In addition, players are very complimentary about the newly hired head strength coach compared to his predecessor.”
Morris was rated as the second best coach to play for, and owner Arthur Blank was ranked in the top three in three different categories, including the willingness to invest in the facility and the commitment to build a competitive team.
“The good thing is that our players recognize that we have an A-plus owner,” Beadles said. “That’s the most important thing. We can all come up with ideals and suggestions for improvement. Without Arthur’s support and resources, it doesn’t mean anything. We’ve got to have that. If you don’t have that as a team, you’ve never going to be able to be successful.”
The biggest jump was in the strength-and-conditioning grade, which went from and F-minus to A.
“Raheem Morris is the No. 2-ranked head coach,” NFLPA president J.C. Tretter said. “That was a major improvement from last year. Strength coach, the brought in a new staff and it went from a F-minus grade to an A grade this year. So, another major change there for the Falcons.”
The Falcons’ NFLPA grades include:
Treatment of families: A
Food/dining area: A
Nutritionist/dietician: A
Locker room: A+
Training room: B
Training staff: A-
Weight room: A+
Strength coaches: A
Team travel: B+
Head coach: A
Ownership: A+
The Falcons opened a new locker room, cafeteria and weight room last season. The Falcons’ spent $45 million in upgrades to the training facility at the team’s headquarters.
The jump on the report was anticipated by the NFLPA.
“The Atlanta Falcons rank near the bottom in several categories,” according to the 2024 NFLPA report card. “The good news, though, is that they have already started to make some major upgrades to their training facility. They are set to upgrade their weight room, locker room and cafeteria — all areas that players called out as needing improvements — which should result in ratings improvements once complete.”
The NFLPA worked with research experts at the Artemis Strategy group to provide them with best practices for conducting their survey of the more than 1,600 players.
“I thought the NFLPA has done a good job of improving the survey over the years, using a third party company this year was a good idea,” Beadles said. “They have tightened up the questions and added some. I thought all was a good improvement on there end.”
The survey was conducted from Aug. 26 to Nov. 20 of last year. A total of 1,695 players completed the survey this season.
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