Bills exposed in the worst way possible as pivotal offseason takes a turn for the worse with latest report
Not a good look for Buffalo.
The Buffalo Bills had plenty of struggles in 2025, and it appears that the issues weren’t limited to what was happening on the football field. Over the past few seasons, the NFLPA has released something called “team report cards,” which review various aspects of the team, including locker room conditions, travel conditions, player safety, training staff amenities, and a range of other factors.
It was an inside look at just how the businesses were run, with teams like the New York Jets getting buried with low grades across the board. It was always interesting to see where teams were struggling and what needed to improve from a more granular level.
Well, that’s long and gone now as the NFL informed all 32 teams that it prevailed in its grievance against the NFLPA regarding the report cards. An arbitrator determined, according to Adam Schefter, that the NFLPA’s conduct violated the CBA and ordered it to stop making the reports public.
Buffalo struggles in a few key areas in the latest report card
In the 2025 grades from the NFLPA, Buffalo received an F- in team travel and a C in the training staff, the two lowest grades from the report. 35% of the Bills players feel they have a comfortable amount of personal space on team flights, ranking dead last in the league. They believe that their team’s travel schedule is inefficient, ranking once again dead last in the league.
As for the training staff, only 75% of players reported that they received enough one-on-one training treatment, ranking 27th out of 32 teams, and the players feel that the training staff only slightly contributes to their overall success, ranking in the same position.
As a whole, the Bills ranked 23rd out of 32 teams, not a good look and something that new head coach Joe Brady will need to clean up across the board, even if the report cards will no longer be public.
It gets worse after another report, validating the claims about the poor travel, came to light.
“The Union dropped the Club in overall rankings from prior years because issues previously raised (by players) have not been addressed and thus have become greater concerns. The Union claimed Players were concerned that ‘current (training) staffing is inadequate to help them recover,’ and ‘travel continues to be the worst part of the experience’ because they ‘do not have a comfortable amount of space when traveling and the travel schedule itself is a source of significant dissatisfaction.’”
Joe Brady needs act like a CEO head coach
Many have speculated that the poor grading is another reason why owner Terry Pegula and general manager Brandon Beane have sought a coach who understands the CEO role. It extends far past just playing on gameday; it goes into everything the players do from the time they walk in the building to when they clock out for the day. There needs to be some major changes at One Bills Drive.
While the report cards may be gone from public view, the problems they highlighted don’t just disappear because an arbitrator says so.
If Buffalo truly wants to usher in a new era with a new stadium, a new head coach, and championship expectations, it can’t just be about play-calling and roster moves. It has to be about the full player experience: the details matter, the travel matters, and the recovery process matters.
Brady was brought in to lead more than just an offense; he was brought in to help reset the culture. If the Bills are serious about getting over the hump in 2026, fixing what happens behind the scenes may be just as important as what happens on Sundays.
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