Arizona Cardinals slammed for facilities, treatment of families in players survey

The NFL Players Association sent out a survey to players on NFL rosters last year, asking for the players to share information about their current team "to not only help them make important career decisions, but also help raise standards across the league."

The results of the survey seem to indicate that the Arizona Cardinals need to raise their standards, at least according to the players on the team who responded to the survey.

The Cardinals ranked No. 31 of the 32 NFL teams overall in the survey, only ahead of the Washington Commanders.

The team received F-minus grades in three categories: nutrition, weight room and training room.

It earned Fs for the treatment of families and the locker room.

The team received an A-minus for its strength staff and a B+ for its training staff.The survey blasted Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill in its overview of Arizona, questioning his willingness to improve working conditions for players.

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Arizona Cardinals ranked second to last in survey

"The Arizona Cardinals rank second to last in their overall score among the 32 NFL clubs," the survey said. "The locker room does not have confidence that owner Michael Bidwill is willing to invest to upgrade the facilities, as he ranks the lowest in that category across the league. The responses that provide the bases for that characterization include: the worst-ranked weight room, which some players feel is a safety hazard; an outdated training room and locker room; and a policy of deducting dinner from players’ paychecks should players want to get food from the facility. The consistent sentiment in players’ responses was that ownership does not provide high quality workplace facilities, and Club policies reflected the lowest rate of confidence that current ownership is willing to invest to make upgrades."

Arizona's placement in the different categories was overall very low. The team was tied for last in the league in the treatment of families, food service/nutrition and training room categories.

It was last by itself in the weight room category and No. 31 among the NFL's 32 NFL teams in the locker room category, according to the survey.

Gannon: 'We talked a lot about areas of improvement that were just not football'

The Republic reached out to the Cardinals on Wednesday for a response but had not received one as of early evening.

On the day new head coach Jonathan Gannon was introduced, Bidwill was asked about feedback from candidates about the job and the organization.

"Well, there was a lot of noise out there (as) there tends to be. A lot of it was inaccurate. I think a lot of people came in and liked our facility," Bidwill said. "In fact, Jonathan and the (Philadelphia) Eagles got a chance to be here last week and use the facilities (for Super Bowl 57 preparation). We talked a lot about areas of improvement that were just not football, but also football operations and about areas where we could be improving things. We’re very open about that."

In an exclusive interview with longtime NFL players agent Leigh Steinberg, such low marks, however negative a portrayal they offer, might still not have a large effect on a player's decision to remain in Arizona or sign with the team from somewhere else.

"Depends on the value system that player has. It's how they read short-term economic gain, long-term economic security, you know, quality of life, family, geographical location, but part of it is an assessment of a team's facilities and the culture there," Steinberg said. "Players will prioritize in different ways how much they care about the culture and the medical attention and the facilities. But it's important to understand the criteria that was used in that rating. And that may be a wake-up call for members of certain organizations that they've got some changes to make."

The team did fare better in the categories for strength coaches (17th), training staff (tied for 22nd) and team travel (tied for 12th).

1,300 NFL players responded to the survey, which was sent to players on 2022 NFL team rosters. They could only answer questions about the team for which they were currently employed.

Players on the Cardinals were obviously less than satisfied with their working conditions overall.

You can see a breakdown of the Cardinals' individual category grades in the NFLPA survey here. Cardinals writer Jose M. Romero contributed to this report

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Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals slammed for facilities, family treatment in survey