Sports
NFLPA releases team-by-team report cards
INDIANAPOLIS – For the second consecutive year, the NFL Players Association on Wednesday released its team-by-team report cards, which assess players’ working conditions and environments throughout their seasons and offseasons.
The Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars rounded out the top five in terms of overall grades.
Meanwhile, for a second straight season, the Washington Commanders received the lowest grades in the league while the repeat Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs ranked 31st overall. The Los Angeles Chargers (30th), New England Patriots (29th) and Pittsburgh Steelers (28th) round out the bottom five.
Team grade categories included their training room, training staff, weight room, strength coaches, team travel, head coach and ownership. Owners were graded on players’ beliefs their ownership groups operate with a willingness to invest in team facilities.
The survey data was gathered from August to November of the 2023 season. A total of 1,750 players (up from the roughly 1,300 participants in 2022) took part in the survey. NFLPA leaders said they were encouraged by the increase in participation this year. Roughly 77 percent of all NFL players took part in the survey. Players were instructed to grade their teams and from there, the grades were tallied and ranked.
The Player Team Report Cards are back. Last year, the report cards led to players feeling more informed about their workplace & this year several new categories were added including Head Coach, Owner + Dietician/Nutritionist.
Take a look here: https://t.co/RV0ZNDNb2h. pic.twitter.com/vfEv6A7d2s— NFLPA (@NFLPA) February 28, 2024
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers received an F on team travel largely because players with four seasons or less and non-starters have to have roommates on road trips and are charged $1,750 per player if they desire their own room.
The Chiefs received low grades as a result of frustrations by players after ownership had promised to upgrade the out-of-date locker room.
However, for a second consecutive year, Clark Hunt and Kansas City didn’t make upgrades to the locker room besides replacing the stools players were given to sit on in front of their lockers with chairs with backs on them. Chiefs players were told there was no time to adequately upgrade the team facilities because their season extended into February due to their Super Bowl run in 2022.
Kansas City tied for first with the Detroit Lions and Vikings in terms of head-coaching grades. Andy Reid, Dan Campbell and Kevin O’Connell each received A-plus grades. The coach to receive the lowest grade was Josh McDaniels, whom the Las Vegas Raiders fired during the season.
“I would say things have improved and we’re glad that they are,” NFL Players Association president J.C. Tretter, a retired offensive lineman, said. “Our whole goal of this … (involves) highlighting the good teams, highlighting the team that could improve and a drive for change to make things get better for players, both immediately and long term.”
NFLPA leaders hope the report cards serve as a tool to ensure accountability and prompt team owners and leadership teams to provide their players with improved facilities, adequate nutrition, medical care, accommodations for families and more.
Lloyd Howell, the NFLPA’s new executive director, spent much of last season traveling to meet with owners of all 32 teams and discuss working conditions. Some of those conversations centered on the findings of last year’s results. Howell said many owners are receptive to improving conditions.
“This is not a shaming exercise,” Howell said. “This is really an opportunity to recognize those teams and environments that are doing well — that are doing all the right things. This is players talking about their working conditions and what they like and what they’d like to see improved.”
The findings of the survey, which was conducted by a third-party survey service, are fascinating, but interestingly enough, the union found no correlation between winning and losing and the quality of the grades teams received.
This year, the union added several categories, which included ownership, head coach, nutritionists and dietitians.
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross received the highest ownership grade, while Hunt received the lowest.
A year after ranking among the worst teams in the league, the Jaguars opened a new team headquarters. The rat infestation that prompted complaints and low grades in 2023 is no longer an issue. The Cincinnati Bengals ranked among the worst in terms of cafeteria grades in 2023 because meals weren’t provided throughout the day. A year later, the team began offering three meals a day on Wednesdays but still has a ways to go before players feel adequately cared for.
The Commanders ranked among the worst overall under Daniel Snyder last season and now have a new owner in Josh Harris. The ownership grade increased, but the facilities grades improved only slightly, which is understandable given the fact Harris, who bought the team in late July, has had limited time to execute upgrades.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys dropped from fifth to 12th, with frustrations over limited resources and understaffed training staff causing the drop in player satisfaction.
One of the greatest areas of concern for players is adequate resources and staffing of the training rooms. Many teams are short-staffed in this department, and the NFLPA has been engaged in conversations with the NFL about the need for a threshold for the number of trainers employed by a team to ensure an adequate trainer-to-player ratio that would ensure players receive adequate care for injuries.
The NFL released a statement saying the league and the teams “encourage and solicit player feedback to help improve all facets of their NFL experience. We look forward to getting the opportunity to review the union’s questionnaire, and the data supporting it.”
The league added that it invited the union to join it “in a rigorous and third-party scientific-based survey as we have previously done.”
Required reading
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
The Lakers are one playoff defeat from their season being over and from the conversation turning to LeBron James’ future.
They are in a hole no team has climbed out of in the history of the NBA, the Lakers’ 131-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 putting L.A. down 3-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.
James and his teammates gave a gallant effort Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, but the defending champion proved to be more than the Lakers could handle.
James finished his night with 19 points on seven-for-19 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. Rui Hachimura had 21 points and Austin Reaves finished with 17 points and nine assists.
Even so, the Lakers have now lost all three games by double digits.
And the Lakers are fully aware that no NBA team has successfully come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs, with those teams holding a 161-0 record. Only four teams have forced a Game 7 after trailing 3-0, all of which ultimately lost the series, including the Boston Celtics in 2023.
Lakers forward LeBron James shows frustration as Thunder center Chet Holmgren slam dunks during Game 3 on Saturday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Game 4 is Monday night, when the Lakers will try to stave off elimination and a night that will determine how the conversations go with James if they lose.
James has been frequently asked this season about retirement, but he has not given any indication of what the future holds for him.
He’s 41 years old and playing in an NBA-record 23rd season.
James is in the final year of his contract that pays him $52 million, making him a free agent this offseason. He can retire, join another team or perhaps return to the Lakers next season.
That will be the conversation if the Lakers can’t win Game 4.
They will see the same Thunder team that had seven players score in double figures, led by Ajay Mitchell’s 24 points and 10 assists and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 23 points and nine assists.
The Lakers went down 13 in the third quarter and had to play catchup the rest of the way. They never did, going down by 112-94 with 6 minutes and 12 seconds left, forcing Lakers coach JJ Redick to call a timeout.
The deficit just kept growing, topping out at 27 points in the fourth.
They were outscored 33-20 in the third quarter. The Lakers didn’t take care of the basketball in the third, turning it over six times, and they didn’t play good defense, allowing the Thunder to shoot 59.1% from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range,
The Lakers did not give an inch to the Thunder in the first half, even when they fell behind by 10 points.
They just kept grinding until they led 59-57 at halftime.
Hachimura had 16 points in the first half, continuing his hot three-point shooting by making all four of his threes. Luke Kennard came off the bench to give the Lakers 13 points, shooting five for six from the field and three for four from three-point range.
The Lakers kept the pressure defense on Gilgeous-Alexander. Though he had 14 points in the first half, he shot only four for 14 from the field and one for five from three-point range.
The Lakers shot 55% from three-point range in the first half, which went a long way in helping them.
The Lakers lost the first two games by identical margins of 18 points and each loss was magnified because Gilgeous-Alexander was kept under wraps for the most part by L.A.’s defense.
When Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth foul with 10:34 left in the third quarter of Game 2 and went to the bench, the Thunder turned a five-point lead into a 13-point advantage at the end of the quarter.
So, when he wasn’t on the court, the Lakers failed to take advantage.
“Well, you know, again, I’ll repeat what I said after the game: we’ve got to be better in the non-Shai minutes,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
Role players like Mitchell and Jared McCain hurt the Lakers in the second game. Chet Holmgren also was hard to deal with.
“Mitchell and McCain have hurt us in those non-Shai minutes, and then Chet [Holmgren] has hurt us the whole game,” Redick said. “I think you’ve got to be willing to live with something. Shai playing one-on-one, thus far in the series, we haven’t been willing to live with, so you’re going to be in rotation. That can lead to smalls on bigs at the hole, and the offensive rebounding from Chet has really hurt us.”
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In 2025, Alex Palou kicked off the Month of May with a Sonsio Grand Prix win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Based on the odds, it’s likely that Palou will find himself in Winner’s Circle again this Saturday when INDYCAR goes back to IMS on May 9 (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX).
Considering Palou has already captured the checkered flag three times this season, are there any other drivers whose odds are worth a wager?
Here are the latest lines at DraftKings Sportsbook as of May 9.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
Sonsio Grand Prix 2026
Àlex Palou: 5/18 (bet $10 to win $12.78 total)
Kyle Kirkwood: 5/1 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Pato O’Ward: 12/1 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
David Malukas: 14/1 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Josef Newgarden: 16/1 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Scott McLaughlin: 20/1 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Christian Lundgaard: 30/1 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Scott Dixon: 40/1 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Will Power: 60/1 (bet $10 to win $610 total)
Felix Rosenqvist: 80/1 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Alexander Rossi: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Ericsson: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Armstrong: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Christian Rasmussen: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Graham Rahal: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Louis Foster: 300/1 (bet $10 to win $3,010 total)
Dennis Hauger: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Romain Grosjean: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Santino Ferrucci: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Rinus Veekay: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Kyffin Simpson: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Caio Collet: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Sting Ray Robb: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Nolan Siegel: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Mick Schumacher: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Here’s what to know about the oddsboard:
Heavy Favorite: It doesn’t look like Alex Palou’s dominance will be slowing down anytime soon. As noted above, he’s already won three of the five races since the INDYCAR season started in March. With 186 laps led, Palou sits first in the standings and has the shortest odds to win the title again. Last season, he started from the pole and led 29 laps before winning the race.
Long Shot to Watch: While his odds of 150/1 to win at IMS are much longer than Palou’s, Graham Rahal is one to watch. At this race in 2025, he started second and led 49 laps before finishing sixth. He finished second at this course in 2015, 2020 and 2023. He’s currently 10th in the INDYCAR standings, with one top five and three top 10s.
Sports
Prep talk: Southern Section Division 1 semifinals features matchup of boys’ volleyball powers
Get ready for the best high school boys’ volleyball action in the nation on Saturday when four powers face off in the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals.
First up is Huntington Beach hosting No. 1-seeded Mira Costa at 1 p.m. Then it’s Loyola hosting Redondo Union at 5 p.m.
All are capable of beating each other.
Teams are finally healthy, so there could be two five-game matches.
Mira Costa remains the team to beat with a 31-2 record and having the No. 1 college recruit from the class of 2027, Mateo Fuerbringer. Redondo Union owns one of those losses. Loyola is healthier than it’s ever been and has a five-game win over Redondo Union and a five-game loss to Mira Costa. Huntington Beach has two three-game losses to Mira Costa.
The championship match will be next weekend at Cerritos College, followed by the Southern California regional and state championships.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
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