“Those consumed with the details along the periphery will miss the moment when the substantial needle-movers are exposed.”
As much as I’d love to attribute this quote to a successfully famous individual whose name immortally lives on in humanity’s history, I can’t. I simply conjured it up out of thin air.
Yet, it should hold water, and it should mean something to so many who continually fall short of an objective. Not allowing oneself to be distracted is crucial to achieving success.
Is Woody vindicated?
On Friday, New York Jets chairman Woody Johnson found himself vindicated when the NFL told its owners that a grievance filed against the NFLPA report cards had come back smelling like roses, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Sources: The NFL informed all 32 teams today in a memo that it prevailed in its grievance vs. the NFLPA and its “team report cards.” An arbitrator determined that the NFLPA’s conduct violated the CBA and ordered it to stop making public any future report cards. pic.twitter.com/mss5WUQjhF
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 13, 2026
“Sources: The NFL informed all 32 teams today in a memo that it prevailed in its grievance vs. the NFLPA and its ‘team report cards,’” Schefter wrote in an X post. “An arbitrator determined that the NFLPA’s conduct violated the CBA and ordered it to stop making public any future report cards.”
Remember, Mr. Johnson called these report cards “totally bogus” last March at the annual NFL league meeting in West Palm Beach, Fla. The Jets received poor grades in the latest edition, which prompted Johnson’s backlash.
The Jets finished 29th out of 32 teams when factoring in each of the 11 categories (while ranking 21st the year prior, in 2023):
Treatment of Families: C- (24th)
Food / Dining Area: C- (29th)
Nutritionist / Dietician: B+ (13th)
Locker Room: D+ (26th)
Training Room: C (28th)
Training Staff: C (29th)
Weight Room: C+ (26th)
Strength Coaches: B (29th)
Team Travel: C+ (24th)
Head Coach: B (25th)
Ownership: F (32nd)
This is why it was hardly surprising when Mr. Johnson’s name surfaced this past fall, as it came to light that the owners were pushing back against the report cards’ credibility.
Now that the league has won this ruling, what’s next? How does Woody Johnson and company proceed?
How do the powers that be pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and turn around a football program that currently has the longest playoff-less stretch in North American sports?
How much did these grades even matter?
It could be argued that the noise surrounding the NFLPA report card topic provides more pessimism in the “Jets will turn this thing around” regard. Better yet, this could confidently be stated even while believing the entire NFLPA report card grading system is, indeed, bogus — which many now believe, and should believe.
Why? Well, it’s simple…
In what world does anybody take these report cards to a serious enough degree that could be called “substantial?”
Granted, free agency is a cutthroat business — and agents are willing to go to great lengths to secure the best deals for their clients — but anybody using these grades as a legitimate factor for deciding one’s future is just playing games.
The union and certain players may publicly state that the grades are taken seriously, but in reality, they don’t play out that way. More damning is the idea that the players don’t live that way when they decide on which organizations are most desirable.
Jets fans are constantly told that players and coaches don’t want to work for the team because they keep losing games. Yet are fans then to assume these grades are just as, or even more, impactful than on-field success?
The idea that the 2025 overall rankings can place the Miami Dolphins first, the Kansas City Chiefs 26th, and the AFC champion New England Patriots 31st is nonsensical in this particular line of work.
RankTeam1Miami Dolphins2Minnesota Vikings3Atlanta Falcons4Las Vegas Raiders5Los Angeles Chargers6Houston Texans7Green Bay Packers8San Francisco 49ers9Detroit Lions10Dallas Cowboys11Washington Commanders12New Orleans Saints13Baltimore Ravens14Chicago Bears15Seattle Seahawks16Tennessee Titans17Denver Broncos18Jacksonville Jaguars19Indianapolis Colts20New York Giants21Los Angeles Rams22Philadelphia Eagles23Buffalo Bills24Cincinnati Bengals25Carolina Panthers26Kansas City Chiefs27Tampa Bay Buccaneers28Pittsburgh Steelers29New York Jets30Cleveland Browns31New England Patriots32Arizona Cardinals
The Las Vegas Raiders ranked fourth, my good people. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross finished as the highest-graded owner, whereas six-time Super Bowl winner Robert Kraft (among the most respected owners who lead the charge) and the Pittsburgh Steelers finished tied for fourth-to-last.
What are we doing here?
What is the union’s goal exactly, to provide public information that places pressure on the league in confusing ways, or to make their players the most money? If it’s the latter — which, call me crazy, but historical evidence would lead me to believe it is — I’d have a major problem with these rankings.
To argue that the Dolphins organization is leaps and bounds more desirable than the Chiefs, based on potential earnings, is mindless.
If these grades don’t necessarily reflect on-field performance — as I’ve often heard — then what’s the point? Isn’t “performance” the entire name of the game for independent contractors?
At the heart of the matter, the spirit of the idea is sound. Nobody would argue against that sentiment.
Also, the ruling doesn’t halt the report card grades process totally. They can still occur; they just won’t be made public.
Constructing a system that allows the players a forum to provide constructive feedback on workplace happenings is an admirable idea. Yet if this system were even slightly up to snuff, the court would not have ruled against it, especially since the CBA is the bible by which everything is legally ruled.
So, while demanding accountability from the owners is usually the first response from social media posters (particularly those in the media), it should travel both ways. What happened to such a messy or illogical extent that would influence a ruling to go this way?
Truth be told, it doesn’t matter. At least it shouldn’t matter too much.
The heart of the matter
As right as Woody Johnson may have been about these report cards, does it really mean anything at the end of the day? Shining more light on the subject could create the Streisand Effect, drawing more eyeballs to the story than would have seen it organically.
More importantly, the concern surrounding these shaky report card grades continues a familiar Jets pattern. Instead of doing everything in their power to move and shake specifically to win games on the football field, matters of public relations and the media seem to have longer legs than they would otherwise need.
To be fair, this is New York.
There’s no question that the Jets receive more attention than the average NFL fan (when removing the on-field success factor). Moreover, they’re mired in the franchise’s most brutal stretch, all while the big brother Giants have been stuck in the mud alongside them — who are also located in the media capital of the world.
It’s plausible that the Jets believe this unfair treatment has contributed to their recent failures. When hearing organizational leaders speak, that idea holds water.
Even head coach Aaron Glenn came out this past season guns-a-blazing when it came to the media. Far too often, it felt like he tried to “get ahead” of certain stories or publicly state that he was one step ahead of the media in real time.
That’s not the best path forward, my friends.
Forget about obsessing over the periphery. Don’t worry about the media to this degree. Simply laugh at anybody who treats the NFLPA report card grades as anything more substantial than the merit could produce.
Although the Jets’ excellent PR team does a tremendous job, if and when ownership decides to make non-football matters more valuable than they should be, it becomes that much tougher for the on-field leaders to get the job done.
Suddenly, more of the non-football-related stuff is injected into the equation.
The New York Jets making moves to purely win football games is the only legitimate path forward. The moment this franchise stops “romanticizing the plan” and stubbornly shifts its mindset to on-field matters — in a uniquely self-obsessed fashion — every fan will notice and applaud.
Yes, Woody Johnson was right when he called the NFLPA’s report cards “totally bogus.” Ok … so, now what?
Has anybody’s mind genuinely changed about the New York Jets, now that the vindication has come rolling down the pike?
No. That won’t happen until fans actually (and finally) experience on-field success.