NFL "will review" 2026 NFLPA report cards leak

The NFL Players Association has issued its 2026 report cards. The grades have already leaked.

The NFL has reacted to the situation by sending a memo to all teams, a copy of which PFT has obtained.

"We understand that the NFL Players Association posted its 'Team Report Cards' on its players-only website today and we are aware that the media is reporting some of the purported results," the memo explains. "As we previously advised, the admissions made by the union and its counsel during the grievance hearing — including that: (i) the Report Cards are 'union speech'; (ii) the union cherry-picks which topics and responses to include and exclude; (iii) players have no role in drafting the Report Cards commentary; (iv) the union chooses which anonymous player quotations to include and which ones to leave out; and (v) the union determines how much weight to allocate to each topic before assigning the 'grades' — confirmed that the Report Cards are neither reliable nor scientifically valid. In fact, these admissions explain the union's ongoing and steadfast refusal to share any data or information about the process that it inaccurately tries to characterize as 'scientifically valid.'

"Given these significant admitted limitations, we continue to recommend that Clubs prioritize feedback and information provided directly by their own players rather than relying on the NFLA's agenda-driven exercise. We further recommend that Clubs refrain from commenting or engaging publicly on the alleged survey and Report Card results. Doing so only provides credibility to the union's media campaign.

"We will review the developments in light of the Arbitrator's decision."

The arbitrator's decision instructs the NFLPA to tell its members that the grades must not be leaked to the media. While it likely will be impossible to ascertain the source of the leak, it happened. Whether that justifies further action by the NFL under the Collective Bargaining Agreement remains to be seen.

The NFL declined comment to PFT regarding the leak of the report cards.