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New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara had a very “Kamara” response after news broke that the NFL won a grievance that will prevent the NFLPA from publicly releasing its annual “team report cards” going forward.
What the NFL’s memo said and what it means for the NFLPA report cards
The news landed Friday when reporting from ESPN’s Adam Schefter said the league informed teams via a memo that it prevailed in its grievance against the NFLPA over the union’s yearly “team report cards.” The key outcome: an arbitrator ordered the NFLPA to stop making public any future report-card results, ruling the practice violated the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
Those NFLPA report cards became a big offseason storyline because they publicly graded clubs across multiple workplace categories — everything from facilities to “family treatment” — and teams often had to answer for ugly grades. Reuters noted the report cards evaluated teams across 11 categories and quickly became part of the broader conversation around ownership, staffing, and day-to-day player experience.
The arbitrator’s finding, as reported by ESPN, was that the report cards violated the CBA by “disparaging NFL clubs and individuals.”
Alvin Kamara’s reaction: “What if the players made one and tweeted it out…”
Kamara’s response wasn’t a long rant; it was a punchline with a point.
Reacting to the report-card news on X, Kamara floated a workaround that instantly spread: what if the players just created their own version and posted it themselves at the end of each year?
Then he leaned even harder into the satire, posting a mini “review” of the Saints’ setup in New Orleans like he was writing a report card on the spot — including comments about the practice field being “hot,” “itchy,” and “smell[ing] like grass,” plus a joking nod to the “sun” being too bright at the facility.
(New Orleans)Practice field: hot. itchy. Smells like grass
F+
Reported by @AdamSchefter
The larger point behind the joke is pretty clear: if the union can’t publish a league-wide grading system anymore, players can still talk publicly about working conditions — and the internet gives them a direct megaphone.
Yes… um the sun shines too bright at our practice facility. Not sure wassup wit dat but it seems complaint worthy. F- (too hot) https://t.co/T2TGPi3hP5
— Alvin Kamara (@A_kamara6) February 13, 2026
Why the NFL fought it and what happens next
From the league side, the issue wasn’t just that the report cards were unflattering. Reporting around the decision says the arbitrator concluded the report cards functioned as “union speech” that crossed a line under the CBA, with criticisms of how the information was selected and presented.
Here’s the practical “why it matters today” angle:
The NFLPA can still gather feedback, but it can’t publicly drop a team-by-team ranking that puts owners, coaches, and club operations on blast each offseason.
Teams lose a public pressure point. Those grades often created embarrassing headlines — and, in some cases, a public roadmap for what needed fixing.
Some surveying will continue. The New York Post reported that a validated survey related to medical care quality will still be part of the landscape even as the public “report cards” end.
So what’s next? Expect the information war to shift instead of disappearing. The NFL memo itself encouraged teams to seek feedback directly from players, and the union can still apply private pressure, it just won’t have that annual viral, shareable scorecard doing the work publicly.
And Kamara’s joke hints at the obvious loophole: the players don’t need a formal “NFLPA report card” for public criticism to go viral, they just need a handful of recognizable names willing to say it with their chest on social media.
Erik Anderson is an award-winning sports journalist covering the NBA, MLB and NFL for Heavy.com. He also focuses on the trading card market. His work has appeared in nationally-recognized outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press , USA Today, and ESPN. More about Erik Anderson
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