Misc. Pats Offseason News
- Thread starter tims4wins
- Start date
I think they're putting in a new weight room, right?
The travel thing has seemed weird since they own Air Kraft 1.
The travel thing has seemed weird since they own Air Kraft 1.
Yeah, I need more context here. Is he a dick behind the scenes? Does he ignore the team? Does he rip into them? Does he only hang out with the good players? Are players blaming contract disputes on him instead of the GM?
He certainly won’t like the static grade for sure.
Here is the NFLPA page for the team report cards: https://nflpa.com/nfl-player-team-report-cards-2024
It provides some insight into their methodology:
‘IN 2023, THE NFLPA WORKED WITH STATLER NAGLE AND RESEARCH EXPERTS AT ARTEMIS STRATEGY GROUP TO FURTHER ENHANCE THE SURVEY PROCESS AND PROVIDE THIRD-PARTY PERSPECTIVE.
THE SURVEY WAS ADMINISTERED FROM AUGUST 26 TO NOVEMBER 16, 2023. ARTEMIS STRATEGY GROUP CONDUCTED THE CENSUS SURVEY ONLINE AND PROVIDED ACCESS TO EVERY PLAYER ON A 2023 NFL ROSTER AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY. A TOTAL OF 1,706 PLAYERS COMPLETED THE SURVEY THIS YEAR.
ANSWERS WERE COLLECTED ANONYMOUSLY, AND PLAYERS EVALUATED THEIR CURRENT WORKPLACE BASED ON THEIR CLUB EXPERIENCE. THE SURVEY INCLUDED BOTH CLOSED-ENDED AND OPTIONAL OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS. GRADES ARE CALCULATED BASED ON PLAYER RESPONSES TO A SERIES OF SURVEY RATING QUESTIONS IN 11 CATEGORIES. EACH CATEGORY GRADE IS BASED PRIMARILY ON SCORES FROM SCALED RATING QUESTIONS. GRADES ALSO REFLECT ADDITIONAL DETAILS ABOUT WORKPLACE CONDITIONS, SUCH AS THE QUALITY OF CLUB OFFERINGS. TEAMS ARE RANKED WITHIN EACH CATEGORY AND OVERALL ON THE BASIS OF THEIR SCORES. EACH TEAM’S OVERALL SCORE IS BASED ON A WEIGHTED COMBINATION OF GRADES FOR EACH OF THE 11 CATEGORIES.
THE OVERVIEW SECTION FOR EACH CLUB’S “REPORT CARD” AND COMMENTARY ACCOMPANYING EACH CATEGORY RANKING REFLECTS PLAYER RESPONDENTS’ OPINIONS ABOUT THE STATE OF EACH CLUB’S WORKPLACE. WE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM THIS SURVEY REFLECTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE 2023 PLAYERS ON EACH CLUB ROSTER WHO COMPLETED THE SURVEY.’
It provides some insight into their methodology:
‘IN 2023, THE NFLPA WORKED WITH STATLER NAGLE AND RESEARCH EXPERTS AT ARTEMIS STRATEGY GROUP TO FURTHER ENHANCE THE SURVEY PROCESS AND PROVIDE THIRD-PARTY PERSPECTIVE.
THE SURVEY WAS ADMINISTERED FROM AUGUST 26 TO NOVEMBER 16, 2023. ARTEMIS STRATEGY GROUP CONDUCTED THE CENSUS SURVEY ONLINE AND PROVIDED ACCESS TO EVERY PLAYER ON A 2023 NFL ROSTER AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY. A TOTAL OF 1,706 PLAYERS COMPLETED THE SURVEY THIS YEAR.
ANSWERS WERE COLLECTED ANONYMOUSLY, AND PLAYERS EVALUATED THEIR CURRENT WORKPLACE BASED ON THEIR CLUB EXPERIENCE. THE SURVEY INCLUDED BOTH CLOSED-ENDED AND OPTIONAL OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS. GRADES ARE CALCULATED BASED ON PLAYER RESPONSES TO A SERIES OF SURVEY RATING QUESTIONS IN 11 CATEGORIES. EACH CATEGORY GRADE IS BASED PRIMARILY ON SCORES FROM SCALED RATING QUESTIONS. GRADES ALSO REFLECT ADDITIONAL DETAILS ABOUT WORKPLACE CONDITIONS, SUCH AS THE QUALITY OF CLUB OFFERINGS. TEAMS ARE RANKED WITHIN EACH CATEGORY AND OVERALL ON THE BASIS OF THEIR SCORES. EACH TEAM’S OVERALL SCORE IS BASED ON A WEIGHTED COMBINATION OF GRADES FOR EACH OF THE 11 CATEGORIES.
THE OVERVIEW SECTION FOR EACH CLUB’S “REPORT CARD” AND COMMENTARY ACCOMPANYING EACH CATEGORY RANKING REFLECTS PLAYER RESPONDENTS’ OPINIONS ABOUT THE STATE OF EACH CLUB’S WORKPLACE. WE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM THIS SURVEY REFLECTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE 2023 PLAYERS ON EACH CLUB ROSTER WHO COMPLETED THE SURVEY.’
| Treatment of Families | D+ | 18th |
| Food/Cafeteria | C- | 26th |
| Nutritionist/Dietician | F | 31st |
| Locker Room | F | 28th |
| Training Room | D | 31st |
| Training Staff | F | 32nd |
| Weight Room | C+ | 23rd |
| Strength Coaches | C+ | 27th |
| Team Travel | D | 27th |
| Head Coach | A+ | 1st |
| Ownership | F- | 32nd |
The above is the Kansas City Chiefs. They have won the Super Bowl the last two seasons. These grades mean nothing in terms of translating to on-field success.
To me, the inclusion of an F- grade on the scale is an indication that this cannot be taken seriously. They might as well have had a scale that included: "great...sucks...really sucks..."
They were grounded to start the season. I don’t know if they ever got them back under a new contract.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/patriots-file-22-million-lawsuit-against-airline-after-alleged-breach-of-contract-by-aviation-company/
It looks like last year was the first time they did this. Here are last year's Patriots grades. 24th of 32 teams:
https://nflpa.com/new-england-patriots-report-card-2023
Looks like they pissed off the families this year.
Here's the breakdown for this year:
https://nflpa.com/new-england-patriots-report-card-2024
https://nflpa.com/new-england-patriots-report-card-2023
Looks like they pissed off the families this year.
Here's the breakdown for this year:
https://nflpa.com/new-england-patriots-report-card-2024
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Every year we have to rediscover that the QB being A++ gets you 85% of the way there.
Exactly. You can't give the owner an F- and the Head Coach an A+.
I mean the owner had to do at least one thing right.
Makes sense to me from a career progression standpoint. Much more stable situation.
Honestly the big takeaway from NFLPA is that players think Kraft is cheap (with some good reason)... bad facilities, one of only 4 teams without childcare/daycare facilities, one of the only teams without family rooms, poor weight rooms and facilities, etc.
The scary part is that they could start providing all of that stuff and it wouldn’t affect the profit margin, but the players would really appreciate it.
The "survey" doesn't look like much of anything other than a bitchfest, but does the NFLPA grasp how ineffectual these surveys make them look? Do they imagine publishing stuff like this will bring about changes they can't seem to win during labor negotiations?
They think that they can embarrass owners, and sometimes they probably do. It's not about winning labor negotiating points, it's about getting fringe benefits for players for free. It's getting local radio to talk about how the owner is a cheap fuck who won't provide (or charges for) daycare, etc. etc.
Edit- not sure I even get the idea that it makes the NFLPA look bad, they're just putting out which teams are good and bad in comparison against their peers. Honestly I think it's smart, plenty of these guys are ego guys. I bet Jerry Jones is out there today texting other owners mocking them for being broke.
I mean, Super Bowl champion Clark Hunt got an F- from his players, apparently because he had promised to upgrade the locker room and did not, and told the players "Well you won the SB last year so there was no time."
So a lot of this stuff is squishy at best.
So a lot of this stuff is squishy at best.
When players coming from the likes of facilities of the SEC and other top programs this is clearly a downgrade.
ESPN story on this has some tidbits
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39616360/dolphins-vikings-top-players-survey-nfl-teams-chiefs-31st
I wouldn’t be surprised if the terrible grades on travel and families both relate to the Germany game.
I doubt it. The family stuff I put up-thread, but they have some of if not the worst family policies for home games. As to travel, they have older planes, I think at one point they were flying commercial due to a dispute with their servicer, etc.
I thought that was pretty common. It'd be a private flight but still a commercial jet.
They were flying American Airlines, special routes yes, but just standard commercial jets.
View: https://twitter.com/bostonradio/status/1705716541180850277
That might explain the plunge from D+ last year to D this year. I'm more interested in how training staff went from A to F in one season.
Alabama
Treatment of FamiliesA+1st
Food/CafeteriaA-1st
Nutritionist/DieticianA1st
Locker RoomA1st
Training RoomA1st
Training Staff2nd
Weight RoomA+3rd
Strength CoachesA+1st
Team TravelA1st
Head CoachA+1st
AcademicsF-32nd
Treatment of FamiliesA+1st
Food/CafeteriaA-1st
Nutritionist/DieticianA1st
Locker RoomA1st
Training RoomA1st
Training Staff2nd
Weight RoomA+3rd
Strength CoachesA+1st
Team TravelA1st
Head CoachA+1st
AcademicsF-32nd
https://www.masslive.com/patriots/2024/02/revs-werent-allowed-to-eat-patriots-spread-so-star-player-bought-breakfast-for-teammates-instead.html
Furthering the Kraft is cheap narrative and has been for a while...
Just seems penny wise pound foolish way to do things for a owner who is so rich, whose teams is plenty profitable, and prides himself for owning the revs as well.
Maybe it is more directed at Jonathan if he is running more while his Dad is stepped back ?
Furthering the Kraft is cheap narrative and has been for a while...
Just seems penny wise pound foolish way to do things for a owner who is so rich, whose teams is plenty profitable, and prides himself for owning the revs as well.
Maybe it is more directed at Jonathan if he is running more while his Dad is stepped back ?
The Revs were always notoriously cheap, Kraft had the rep as being one of the guys most opposed to the increased spending that newer owners pushed for.
The weirdest part to me is the F for Weight Room. That is an obvious way to exploit an edge without any cap issues and to not have the best possible training facilities for a HC like Bill that looks to exploit every possible edge is really surprising.
Could that be related to Bill being old school in any way about weight training and not relying on modern gear? @Marciano490 to thread …
It could be the actual size of the gym itself. There’s only so much room to work with at Gillette, and some of these college facilities at the big state schools are massive.
This was discussed last year when this started to come out. The Stadium is over 20 years old, as said above the College ones are massively upgraded because they have to in order to draw talent and also many NFL teams have completely separate training facilities. The Krafts are "being cheap" (which I don't really buy into) by trying to do everything at Gillette and not spending the money on separate facilities. I think this is kind of nonsense but I do think they need to upgrade the facilities and it's not like they don't have the land to do it at Foxboro, but the footprint in Gillette is what it is.
These players make millions of dollars and still need their teams to provide three meals a day?
I wonder if Patriot Place limits the amount of renovation or expansion they can do to the team facilities.
Eh, my feel is Bill didn't think the facilities they had were enough either, even if his preferred training regiments weren't modern. The way he went so over the top in praising the Raiders' facility (the 'Taj Mahal') made that as clear as he could possibly make it publicly.
When you say a team flies commercial to someone like me who has worked in the industry of flying football teams to places, that term to me means going through normal channels of going through the airport to fly like you and I would on a flight to the Bahamas. That's why I said no NFL team flies commercial to any game. Every NFL, FBS, and most FCS teams charter the jet and the team gets bused onto the tarmac and gets on the plane. Everybody either contracts with an airline or goes through a travel agency like Road Rebel to facilitate flights. In my time traveling on football charters, we've gone mostly on Sun Country planes but there are times that we've gone with JetBlue because of the length of the flight and the ability to have in-flight TV.
Not all players make millions of dollars...plus the teams make hundreds and hundreds of millions. I think they can afford the hit of providing three meals a day
I may be wrong, but I am guessing the issue with food / meals has very little to do with the cost and more to do with the convenience / nutrition aspect.
Funny thing is... you should want as much control over what your guys eat. Why chance them eating poorly when you can provide them a meal for not much money that is in keeping with what you want your guy eating.