The NFL offseason is in full swing, with free agency (legal tampering period) having opened earlier this week and the Draft right around the corner. Excitement is in the air, and the magic of the offseason is underway. We’ve already seen plenty of huge moves and rosters starting to take shape for teams across the league, but that’s not all that happened this spring.
On February 26, during the NFL scouting combine, the NFLPA released its annual report cards. These report cards are compiled from survey responses from nearly 1700 players across the league. The reports center around the treatment, accommodations, and facilities of NFL franchises from a player’s perspective.
This is the third year that the NFLPA has done this and so far, it hasn’t not made it into Madden Franchise mode. I think it would be an interesting addition to Madden 26.
It’s obviously not a huge aspect of the offseason and doesn’t get nearly enough attention as free agency or the draft, but these report cards do actually matter. The four teams with the worst overall grades (Cardinals, Patriots, Browns, and Jets) had a 20-48 record last season, and as we’ve seen this offseason from the Patriots and Jets, they have to overpay for free agents.
The NFLPA report game mechanics should be added to the current coaching skill tree progression system already in place. You should have the option to use Coach XP to improve the quality of life of your players. Not doing this would increase the chance that you get bad report card grades, decreasing the level of interest free agents have in your organization. You would have to overpay players in free agency in order to sign them. Meanwhile a good grade would allow you to lure free agents in under market value.
A bad report card grade should also affect the effectiveness of practices and training. The amount of XP a player receives from practice should be tied to how good the facilities are and his quality of life. Suppose you have crappy facilities, personnel, and general attitudes. In that case, the players aren’t going to be able to unlock their potential as fast, but if you have state-of-the-art facilities/trainers and a great culture, players should develop much faster.
Let’s look at the Minnesota Vikings, who have maintained an A+ ranking for the past few seasons since they started the report cards; during this time, the Vikings have been a remarkably overachieving franchise, winning 14 games last year with Sam Darnold at QB. They draft and develop talent specifically on the defensive side of the ball better than everyone besides maybe the Eagles and Rams, and they lure in big free agents in the offseason; we just saw them grab the top DT and top offensive linemen in free agency just the other day.
Compare the Vikings with the Jets — who consistently rank near rock bottom of the league — in these report cards, and you will see a stark difference. The Jets have perennially underachieved despite having a much better roster than you’d think, given their record.
To get more specific about how the NFLPA report card would work in Madden 26, let’s look at the 11 categories that the report card grades on.
- Treatment of families
- Food/dining area
- Nutritionist/dietician
- Locker room
- Training room
- Training staff
- Weight room
- Strength coaches
- Team travel
- Head coach
- Ownership
The dining area, locker room, training room, and weight room could all fall under a facility improvement progression program, where each year, you have to spend a certain amount of XP on “facilities” in order to unlock each letter grade (from F to A) whatever you end at the end of the season would be your grade for that offseason. Staff should also be a separate progression program that works the same way as the first and encompasses the Nutritionist/dietician, training staff, and strength coaches sections of the survey. The progression level of your assistant coaches and trainers should also impact how much XP it takes to upgrade your grade.
Along with those two progression paths, there should also be a third for ownership accommodations, which focuses on how generous the owner is with his players and their families. This third path should also go from an F to an A ranking with higher XP thresholds for small market teams.
Finally, your individual coaching level should also be the final factor to consider. The better coach you are, the better the grade.
With facilities, staff, ownership accommodations, and coaching, you now have four categories on which to be graded. My rough assessment of how the grades would impact your team would be something like this: an average of a C grade over the four categories should result in zero perks or penalties, while a D should make the asking prices of free agents 10% higher. An F should make the price go up 20% and your player progression for the next season go down 5%. Flip that and reverse it for a B and A grade. A B would lower free agent costs by 10%, and an A would decrease asking prices by 20%, and giving your players a 5% increase in XP earnings for the next year.
So, basically, my pitch is to revamp the coaching XP progression tree that already exists to be a yearly program that mirrors the NFLPA report card initiative. It’s a pretty straightforward idea, Madden. Hit me up!
Published: Mar 12, 2025 11:44 am