Washington Commanders ranked last in NFL Players Association survey as Minnesota Vikings earn top spot

The Washington Commanders were ranked last in the NFLPA report

The Minnesota Vikings treat their players best while the Washington Commanders ranked last according to a new NFL Players Association survey.

The report, released Wednesday during the league's annual scouting combine, rated teams in eight categories - everything from meals and nutrition to training and travel - based on anonymous responses from around 1,300 players.

The Vikings, Miami Dolphins and Las Vegas Raiders were the top three teams while the bottom three were the Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona Cardinals and Commanders.

"Player health and safety is our top priority, and we continue to invest in our facilities, including a new practice field, new turf in the practice bubble and increased meeting room space," a spokesperson for the Commanders said. "We know there is more to do, and we regularly talk with our players about ways to improve their work environment and the experience for their families."

Results showed three teams don't serve players dinner at their facilities and one of those, the Cincinnati Bengals, does not provide supplements or phone-charging plugs in lockers. In addition, the Jacksonville Jaguars dealt with a rat infestation last season.

NFLPA president JC Tretter insisted the survey is not meant to shame teams.

"I think the recommendations will be fairly clear when they read the reports," Tretter said. "There's not much lost in translation.

"There are some really basic things where it's like: 'This shouldn't be going on.'"

Teams were graded on treatment of families, food service/nutrition, weight room, strength coaches, training room, training staff, locker room and team travel.

Among other findings were that six teams do not fly players in first class, seven teams do not arrange for players to have room-mates on road trips, and 18 of 32 teams offer rooms in stadiums where families can go with their children.

The Philadelphia Eagles, meanwhile, offer a stadium family room just for coaches' wives and children, not players' wives.

"The reason we want this to be reoccurring is next year, there can be no claim of ignorance because we've brought the problem up and it would be even more telling if these issues continue," Tretter said. "Then that's a clear choice and there's no claim of ignorance there.

"It's going to be very clear what the next steps should be. If you're unwilling to take those next steps, I think that tells us a lot going into the following year."

The expectation is for players who leave teams to be more forthright in future surveys.

It was important to release the survey results before free agency begins, he said, because how teams treat players could be a deciding factor when mulling two offers.

"Two offers being equal, this might get a player to say, 'My situation in Team X with the same offer is going to be better than Team Y'", Tretter said.

Not all the findings are negative. Seven of the top eights teams rated most efficient with players made the playoffs.