The Cincinnati Bengals flopped in key areas on the 2025 NFLPA report card.
While some improvements were made compared to the prior year’s report card, alarmingly bad grades in things like treatment of family (4.69 out of 10, F-) continued to stick out.
Now, we know a little more about the why behind the grades.
One player told ESPN’s Sarah Barshop that being unable to meet families indoors after games was a reason for the grade.
“Isn’t it great that your daughters and your granddaughters are at work with you? And then we have to go in the parking lot to see our family in the rain? Yeah, it sucks,” a player told Barshop.
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Per Barshop, the Bengals added an indoor postgame area last year, but it has yet to make a dent in the grading because it isn’t the only major problem.
A lack of accommodations for families is a major problem for the Bengals on the report cards, too, and the Bengals are just one of three NFL teams without child care available during games.
“It’s hard for kids to get through a full game,” a Bengals player told Bishop. “Obviously, your family wants to come support. My [kids] are old enough to where they think it’s cool but it’s also like a lot. I think that [child care] could be awesome.”
The Bengals do have plans in place for childcare in 2025 and have responded to the grades in other areas in recent years, such as upgrading locker rooms. But the fact a family-based front office needs multiple years of failing grades to budge in these areas is outright mind-boggling, especially when players around the league going to free agency now use these report cards in their decision-making processes.
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This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals’ embarrassing lag in NFLPA report cards keeps biting them
Reporting by Chris Roling, Bengals Wire / Bengals Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
