Arthur Blank Unhappy with League Report Card

On March 1—two weeks before NFL free agency was slated to begin—the NFL Players Association released the results stemming from its first-ever club report cards. The report cards, which assigned grades to all 32 NFL teams across categories including treatment of families, nutrition, weight room, strength staff, training room, training staff, locker room and travel, were produced from players on 2022 NFL rosters responding to questions about their respective teams.

Overall, Atlanta ranked 23rd out of 32 teams, as the franchise was the recipient of mixed results: While it garnered an “A” for the training staff, it received a “D-minus” for the strength coaches; a similarly notable disparity was also evident in the ranking of its Flowery Branch facilities as the training room was assigned a solid “B-minus” grade while the locker room received a “D” mark.

In response to the March 1 publication, Falcons principal owner Arthur Blank was unequivocal in expressing his dissatisfaction with how his team ranked.

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“If we have a definite groundswell of support or call-out for the training areas, strength areas or the size of the locker room or whatever, we need to listen to that sooner and we need to respond to that sooner. Which I wasn’t thrilled with,” Blank told reporters during the NFL owners’ meetings at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix last month.

The Falcons were recognized for providing valuable resources such as an onsite family room and daycare, along with complimentary meals. Additionally, an overwhelming number of Falcons players approved of the team travel experience. But, as the survey results indicated, there is widespread dissatisfaction with the strength coaching staff, largely attributed to the fact that only 58 percent of the players feel like they received an individualized plan.

“I think it’s their [CEO Rich McKay, general manager Terry Fontenot, head coach Arthur Smith] job and it’s part of my job to make sure that we are looking around corners and anticipating,” added Blank. “That’s our job as leaders not to just respond. That’s what a goalie does in hockey or soccer for that matter.”

Since the Falcons’ practice and training facility moved to Flowery Branch in 2000, infrastructural improvements have been made nearly every year, including the 2021 addition of the Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center. However, since the 2020 season, when NFL practice squad rosters expanded from eight to 16 players, which has coincided with an expanding coaching staff, the locker room, training room, and weight room have naturally become more cramped—a reality of which the Falcons are well aware.

Last summer, members of the Falcons front office toured facilities of different NFL teams and concluded that significant renovation projects were in order for the Flowery Branch facilities. In addition to the cafeteria size having been addressed, plans are already underway to increase the square footage of the strength and conditioning rooms and the locker room by 30 to 40 percent over the next 18 months with the locker room expansion likely at the tail end of the process in order to minimize in-season distractions as much as possible.

“We are always happy to get feedback from our associates and certainly from our players. We were appreciative of the input,” Falcons team president Greg Beadles told the Atlanta Jewish Times in a recent interview.

“In the NFL, we talk about quartiles because there are 32 teams. We like to be first quartile in everything that we do. Being 23 out of 32 is not a situation that we like to be in. Disappointed to see that but glad we are on the front end of addressing that. We wish we could have it all done now but we want to plan it out the right way and it takes time to do a major renovation like that.

“We know we have to continue to invest in our facility here. This is just one of the next big steps that we’re doing to stay modern and to stay competitive in the NFL.”

To stay competitive in the NFL means attracting top-flight free agents this time of year and it was surely no coincidence that the aforementioned report card results were published two weeks before free agency commenced. How much the reputation of a given team’s facilities (as well as support staff and organizational logistics) weigh on a player’s future career plans is anyone’s guess.

We know we have to continue to invest in our facility here. This is just one of the next big steps that we’re doing to stay modern and to stay competitive in the NFL.

“It depends on the individual and what’s important to them,” noted Beadles. “It just varies from person to person on what’s important to them.”

Clearly, the Falcons’ reported grades didn’t prove to be that much of a deterrent to this year’s crop of free agents as the club shored up its defense by signing safety Jessie Bates III, defensive tackle David Onyemata, and linebacker Kaden Elliss in the opening of free agency before inking longtime defensive end Calais Campbell to a one-year deal several weeks later. In a move meant to further solidify the Falcons secondary, the team also recently traded a 2023 fifth-round pick to the Detroit Lions for cornerback Jeff Okudah.

Nevertheless, more favorable empirical results from future NFL Players Association surveys would bode well for the Falcons in their attempts to woo free agents—particularly in light of the team now having greater salary cap room.

As Blank made abundantly clear at last month’s owners’ meetings, “I don’t ever want to appear on that report again in terms of the ranking that we got.”