NFLPA report card leak shows one of the few things holding the Houston Texans back is one of the most fixable things ever

The Texans need to find a way to improve their field.

Justin Churchill — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer
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Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans NFLPA Report Card leak ESPN
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While they haven’t been able to get over that hump the last three years, the Houston Texans have come a long way from where they once were. Let’s be honest here: they were once the laughing stock of the NFL. Now, they are a perennial playoff team.

Not only are they handling business on the field, for the most part, but they are also handling it off the field, too. ESPN leaked the NFLPA report cards for every team, in which players grade their team across a series of categories. The Texans ranked seventh overall on the report card. However, there are things holding them back from a nearly flawless report card. The worst part is, it’s very controllable and fixable.

The Texans’ worst grade on their NFLPA report card was their home field playing surface

Treatment of Families: B-
Home Game Field: C+
Food/Dining Area: A
Nutritionist/Dietician: A
Locker Room: B+
Training Room: A
Training Staff: A
Weight Room: A
Strength Coaches: A
Position Coaches: B+
Offensive Coordinator: A-
Defensive Coordinator: A
Special Teams Coordinator: A
Team Travel: B-
Head Coach: A-
General Manager: A-
Team Ownership: A
Overall Rank: 7

Usually, you have teams on these report cards that get bad grades on things like facilities, coaching, or even stadium things—all things that aren’t super controllable. You can only do so much to get better facilities right away. Those kinds of things usually take years to build up.

However, when it comes to the field, the Texans can change that almost instantly. The biggest thing that tanked the Texans’ 2025 report card was the playing surface. It was the only thing below a B-, sitting at a C+. Sure, a C+ isn’t terrible, but that’s easily the one thing holding them back from being the No. 1-rated team in terms of the NFLPA report cards.

Teams like the Denver Broncos spend tons of money on new playing surfaces year-round, even during the season. Getting a better, new playing surface isn’t particularly hard, and with the money the ownership has, it should be easy to fix. Not to mention, it should be easy to maintain since they’re in a dome. Then again, none of us here are really grass/turf pros, are we?

Either way, it seems fairly controllable.

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