Good morning, Broncos Country!
An arbitrator last week ruled that the NFL Players Association is prohibited from publishing its annual team report cards based on player surveys because it violates terms of the collective bargaining agreement because the report cards can be disparaging toward clubs and individuals.
To which the NFLPA basically said, “Too bad.”
While the NFLPA will not publish results to the public, it will continue to do the surveys and offer the feedback to players and coaches.
A lot of the arbitrator’s critique was in agreement with the NFL’s grievance over the NFLPA’s methodology — specifically in how it would “cherry-pick” which responses to highlight when determining the grades.
In the NFL’s memo to teams following the hearing, the league said the NFLPA acknowledged that the union decided which topics and responses to include (or not) in its report cards and that union staffers wrote all commentary included in the report cards, selecting which player quotes to include or exclude to support its narrative.
Basically, according to the NFL memo, the NFLPA admitted its report cards were aimed at advancing their interests “under the guise of a scientific exercise.”
Good methodology or not, the purpose of the report card was not inherently a bad idea. In fact, enforcing some sort of mechanism for player feedback to team owners is a great idea — especially for franchises with bad owners who don’t seem to understand the need for putting money back into the team.
Thankfully, the Broncos do not fall into that category.
“I think we get some good input from [the report cards], and we’ve tried to be responsive to that. The last couple of surveys, our players have said our locker room’s not great. It’s too small. …And that’s why we’re building a new facility. Not the only reason, but one.”
Greg Penner
Looking at the 2025 Report Card for Denver there are a few head-scratchers, but overall, it is probably a decent reflection of player views.
Most of Denver’s grades were Bs with a few As (nutrition/dietician, team travel, owner). The lowest grades were a C- for treatment of families and an F for the locker room. Whild players gave the head coach a B, they handed the owner an A.
Given the owner’s response at the end-of-year presser two weeks ago, it’s clear why he gets high marks.
Greg Penner doesn’t think the NFLPA report card is the “end-all, be-all” for information, but he does agree it’s useful input and good insight into needed changes.
“I think there’s some good. I think we get some good input from that, and we’ve tried to be responsive to that,” Penner said, adding that he looked forward to seeing what was in there. “The last couple of surveys, our players have said our locker room’s not great. It’s too small. We might’ve gotten an ‘F’ on that, and that’s why we’re building a new facility. Not the only reason, but one.”
The fact that Denver is one of the franchises to use the survey to better its players is yet another sign the ship is being steered by the right captain.
The Broncos are building the new Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit to bring administration and workout facilities all in one space.
“The whole first level will be player-oriented. That will be tied into the field, and the weight room and locker room will be much bigger,” Penner added. “We think we will get a lot of benefit from having those people together in one place.”
“I think what’s important is for our players to know that we care about their success, and we want to enable them to perform at the highest level that’s possible for them. …It’s important for them to see us here, see us at practice so they know that we’re intently focused on their success and our team’s success.”
greg penner
“I think what’s important is for our players to know that we care about their success, and we want to enable them to perform at the highest level that’s possible for them,” Penner said when asked about his relationship with the players. “We care about their families, their involvement in the communities, those types of things. You’re not trying to become best friends with the players. I don’t think that’s the right relationship either. So, we care about our players, we get to know them. It’s important for them to see us here, see us at practice so they know that we’re intently focused on their success and our team’s success.”
When it comes to his relationship with the head coach, Penner seems to once again have figured out the right balance. He talks with Sean Payton and George Paton every day, but at the end of it, football decisions are their realm.
“My style is more to probe and ask lots of questions. I try not to be in a position of needing to make any final decisions on that type of football decisions, but we have an open dialogue,” he said. “If we have a critical decision we’re making, we’re going to talk about it. But if the two of them agree on something and recommend it, it would be pretty unlikely that I’d ever overrule that. So, the approach I think is working really well.”
Penner highlighted that Payton and Paton are very aligned and that contributes to a smooth operation at the top.
Paton noted that he and the head coach have gotten along well ever since the coach’s interview.
“I knew then that we would be aligned in how we wanted to build this. That has just continued to grow,” Paton said. “You know how much he loves the draft process and the personnel process. Not only does he love it, he’s really good at it. I mean he’s really good. He knows what he wants. He articulates it really well to all of the scouts, so we all know what a Denver Bronco player at this position should look like. …Winning is not easy, but I just think it just keeps getting stronger.”