The Jacksonville Jaguars' rapid ascent from four wins in 2024 to 13 wins and an AFC South championship this past season was thrilling. Even better, the organization is getting more of the little but important things right behind the scenes than ever.
Despite the best efforts of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson to block NFLPA report cards, where players give genuine feedback on how each franchise is run, those report cards are now public. Big ups to ESPN's Kalyn Kalher for reporting on them.
Among the myriad report card grades that capture the treatment of people, the care for players, and the leadership of the football operation, the Jags earn high marks almost across the entire board.
Jaguars rank 5th overall out of 32 teams in NFLPA report cards, with only one lower grade
I've split up the categories of the Jaguars' 2026 NFLPA report card into two general buckets to make it a little easier to parse through.
Player experience & facilities
- Treatment of Families: B+
- Food/Dining Area: B+
- Home Game Field: B+
- Locker Room: A-
- Nutritionist/Dietician: A-
- Team Travel: B+
- Training Room: A
- Training Staff: A-
- Weight Room: A
Quality of coaching staff & franchise leadership
- Head Coach: A-
- Offensive Coordinator: B+
- Defensive Coordinator: A
- Special Teams Coordinator: A+
- General Manager: A-
- Team Ownership: A
- Position Coaches: C
- Strength Coaches: A
Props to Jacksonville owner Shad Khan. We're not in Kansas anymore! And by that I mean, the Jags are far, far removed from the debacle of the Urban Meyer situation. Khan was straight-up conned into believing Meyer could be an NFL head coach. Didn't last one full season.
It can't be underestimated how detrimental Meyer's brief tenure was. He almost ruined the development of quarterback Trevor Lawrence before he could find his footing in the pros.
Although the Doug Pederson era ultimately flamed out, there were still some high points, including a playoff victory. But based on the NFLPA report card from last year, the franchise's whole setup had a lot of rehabbing to do.
Now that the Jags have a more modern head coach-GM combo in Liam Coen and James Gladstone, it seems like Khan's investment in the team is mirroring that to keep up with the times. That is to say, Jacksonville isn't out of step with what a first-class NFL organization looks like nowadays.
The Jaguars grades on the NFLPA Team Report Cards:
— Jamal St. Cyr (@JStCyrTV) February 26, 2025
They finished 18th out of 32 pic.twitter.com/mhSemtbHMG
The only real issue that popped up on the report card is position coaches outside of the main coordinators, who received a general "C" grade.
Coen's brilliance as a play-caller may be a blessing and a curse. He'll have his work cut out to emulate one of his mentors, Sean McVay, to keep his full staff at a top-notch level. For instance, who's in the pipeline behind eventual head coach/current offensive coordinator Grant Udinski? And the same goes for defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile.
Sounds like Coen has his work cut out to build the depth of his staff. Other than that, though, the Jags rank as a legit top-five organization — only 12 months removed from being bottom-half of the league. Quite the jump!
This offseason in Duval is mired in salary cap difficulties and tough decisions on free agents like linebacker Devin Lloyd and star running back Travis Etienne.
What's more important, and reflected in the Jags' massively improved NFLPA report card outlook, is that this franchise is as appealing of a free-agent destination as it's ever been. These grades will make players actually want to suit up for the Black and Teal, despite Jacksonville being a smaller NFL market relative to other big-city media capitals.
Jags fans must love to see how much the arrow is pointed up across the board.