Culture Shift Confirmed: Jaguars Earn Major Bump in 2026 NFLPA Grades

Kalyn Kahler of ESPN dropped the NFL Players Association’s 2026 report card results this week, the annual survey in which players anonymously grade their organizations from A-plus to F-minus on the prior NFL season (2025). While the NFL recently succeeded in blocking the union from officially publishing the full findings and detailed improvement areas, the results still, unsurprisingly, made their way into the public.

Finally, without access to the full survey details, we can’t know each team’s exact placement among all 32 franchises in each subcategory beyond what has been publicly reported. We can only sort by individual grades, meaning it’s impossible to determine precise rankings from 1/32 to 32/32 when multiple teams share the same letter grade in a given section. We do, however, know that Jacksonville is currently rated as the fifth-highest graded team, a major jump from 18th in 2025.

Dramatic One-Year Improvement

The results reveal that Jaguars significantly improved year-over-year in at least 10 of the 11 core 2025 categories (categories previously surveyed in 2024). The most dramatic shifts came in family treatment, coaching, travel, and organizational support in year one of the Tony Boselli, James Gladstone, and Liam Coen leadership swap from Trent Baalke and Doug Pederson. These improvements suggest players viewed the Jaguars’ culture and facilities much more positively in 2026 compared with the prior report.

Biggest Areas of Improvement (2024 to 2025)

• Treatment of Families: F to B+ (3 letter grades)
• Head Coach: C to A− (2 letter grades)
• Food/Dining Area: C+ to B+ (1 letter grade)
• Training Staff: B− to A− (1 letter grade)
• Strength Coaches: B to A (1 letter grade)

Treatment of Families

In 2025, the Jaguars’ biggest opportunity for improvement was in family treatment, with the NFLPA offering the following detailed feedback for the team, which ranked 31st in this category at the time:

Players rate the post-game family area 5.41 out of 10, ranking them 30 out of 32 teams.

The players feel that the team organizes family events a couple of times per year which ranks them 26 out of 32 teams.

Treatment of families was the team’s lowest graded category. Players believe that many changes need to be made. They would like more access to sideline passes so they can see their families pregame. During the game, players want a family room so their families can escape the heat and allow mothers to change/nurse babies. Finally, players want their post-game family area upgraded.

It appears Jacksonville’s leadership listened to player feedback, posting a dramatic one-year leap from an F to a B+ in this category. Notably, only the Raiders and Vikings earned an A in this year’s survey for Treatment of Families, placing Jacksonville in the group just beyond the top two.

Strength Coaches

Eric Ciano, Jacksonville’s Director of Strength and Conditioning, joined the team ahead of the 2025 season after 15 years with the Buffalo Bills. Interestingly, the 2024 NFLPA Report Card had already awarded Ciano an A with Buffalo, a pattern that continued in Jacksonville, with the Jaguars earning the same top mark in 2025. Ciano, the 2020 strength and conditioning coach of the year showed consistency in action, quickly validating Boselli’s decision to not allow him to get on another plane before accepting Jacksonville’s offseason offer. Jacksonville ended 2025 as one of the league’s healthiest teams, entering the playoffs with just seven players on IR.

Head Coach

Finally, the transition from 2024’s Doug Pederson to 2025’s Liam Coen appears to have reinvigorated the team, both schematically on the field and culturally in the locker room. In the prior Pederson survey, Jacksonville earned a C (31st out of 32), with the following NFLPA survey details standing out:

57% of Jaguars players feel their former head coach Doug Pederson is efficient with their time, a rank of 31 out of 32.

The players felt that Pederson was somewhat receptive to locker room feedback on the team’s needs, ranking him 32 of 32 head coaches in the league.

Interestingly, 12 head coaches graded out higher than Coen’s A- in this year’s report, with a few shocking names on the list:

• Los Angeles Rams: Sean McVay (A+)
• Washington Commanders: Dan Quinn (A+)
• Minnesota Vikings: Kevin O’Connell (A)
• Pittsburg Steelers: Mike Tomlin (A)
• Seattle Seahawks: Mike Macdonald (A)
• Chicago Bears: Ben Johnson (A)
• New England Patriots: Mike Vrabrel (A)
• Detroit Lions: Dan Campbell (A)
• Kansas City Chiefs: Andy Reid (A)
• New York Jets: Aaron Glenn (A)
• Philadelphia Eagles: Nick Sirianni (A)

New Categories Surveyed

Each season, the NFLPA adds new survey categories to provide extra insight for free agents evaluating potential landing spots, and for teams identifying possible blind spots. This year’s report card introduced six additional areas, including separate grades for coordinators, position coaches, the general manager, and home field conditions. Jacksonville performed reasonably well across these new categories, continuing their 2026 trend of strong organizational marks.

Home Game Field

The EverBank Stadium home field earned a B+, a grade that feels like both a nod to Jacksonville’s grounds crew and a compliment to the current natural grass surface.

It will be interesting to see if that rating changes in future years as the team moves closer to the Stadium of the Future, which is expected to feature synthetic turf.

Defensive Coordinator

With no prior-year grade to benchmark against, it’s easy to see why the defensive coordinator category likely ranks among the “most improved” areas for the 2025 Jacksonville Jaguars (2026 Report). After moving on from Ryan Nielsen, first-year defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile oversaw jumps across nearly every metric. Most notably, the Jaguars finished second in the league in turnovers with 31, a dramatic rise from 32nd in 2024, when the team recorded just nine total takeaways (eight on defense).

Since the NFLPA report focuses primarily on the day-to-day work environment, an A grade also speaks volumes about Campanile’s ability to connect with his defensive roster in the locker room. Impressively, only a handful of NFL defensive coordinators earned higher grades than his A, highlighting both his leadership and relational impact.

• Los Angeles Chargers: Jesse Minter (A+)
• Philadelphia Eagles: Vic Fangio (A+)
• Seattle Seahawks: Aden Durde (A+)

Special Teams Coordinator

The team’s only A-plus went to Special Teams Coordinator Heath Farwell. Farwell is entering his fourth season leading Jacksonville’s special teams and his 10th year coaching in the NFL, having been retained on from Doug Pederson’s staff rollover by Coen. The decision paid immediate dividends in 2025, both on and off the field. Under Farwell, the unit produced a top kicker in Cam Little, a top punter in Logan Cooke, a top‑10 punt returner in Parker Washington, and an emerging kick returner in Bhayshul Tuten. Players clearly respond to Farwell’s communication style and ability to connect, a sentiment reflected in his league‑leading rating, the highest on the Jaguars and likely one of the best across the NFL.

General Manager

This is another category that likely would have shown a dramatic improvement had it been surveyed in 2025, when both local and national sentiment toward former general manager Trent Baalke skewed heavily negative prior to his offseason departure. Enter first-year GM James Gladstone. Gladstone’s public availability, clarity with the media, and overall transparency appear to extend beyond press conferences and into the locker room, earning him an A- in his first season at the helm. For a franchise long criticized for communication gaps and front-office friction, that kind of early return matters.

Additional Room to Improve?

Position Coaches

Across this year’s report card, the only category where the Jaguars didn’t grade out with at least a B+ was for Position Coaches, where Jacksonville was rated with at a C. Many would likely attribute this grade to Jacksonville’s decision to part ways with Secondary Coach Ron Milus after the end of the season. Though one would have to wonder if this was more than just that one role sinking the grade for the entire group or something more.

Jaguars Position Coaches

• QB Coach Spencer Whipple
• OL Coach Shaun Sarett
• WR Coach Edgar Bennett
• TE Coach Richard Angulo
• RB Coach Chad Morton
• DL Coach Matt Edwards
• LB Coach Tem Lukabu
• DB Coach Anthony Perkins
• Secondary Coach Ron Milus

With each roster holding 53 players, even if we assume that each of the 7–9 players in the secondary rated their position coach unfavorably, we cannot conclude that all other coaches earned A’s with a single coach dragging the grade down. It’s equally possible that multiple coaches received B’s or lower, while Milus and the team parted ways for reasons unrelated to, or not documented in, the NFLPA survey results. In short, the report card provides insight, but it doesn’t tell the full story behind the coaching grades.

Additional Survey Context

This year’s NFLPA report cards are based on responses from 1,759 players and were conducted from November 2 to December 11. On November 2, Jacksonville was 4-3, coming off their bye week after losing Travis Hunter to injury late in the week, and following an 8-point home loss to the Seahawks and a 28-point blowout in London to the Rams. By December 11, the team had improved to 9-4, fresh off a 36-19 win over the Colts at home.

A People-First Turnaround

My biggest takeaway? Jacksonville excelled in nearly every category that centered on people. That may very well be the Jaguars’ competitive advantage in 2026. Of the 10 surveyed areas unrelated to facilities or resources, the Jaguars earned an A in eight of them. Grant Udinski (B+) narrowly missed pushing that number to nine out of ten, leaving position coaches (C) as the lone “service-side” area with clear room for improvement. For an organization that has spent years trying to stabilize its culture, leadership structure, and internal alignment, that kind of across-the-board affirmation speaks volumes.

The right hires were made downstream, and the players seem to be taking notice, if this survey is any indication. For such a young staff, one that fans and media questioned endlessly entering 2025, this report card provides tangible evidence supporting the on-field turnaround we’ve seen. Jacksonville isn’t just winning; they’re doing so with the players clearly in lockstep. That alignment speaks to culture and suggests that 2025 may have been more than a flash-in-the-pan, one-season improvement like 2017 or 2022. Only 2026 will tell if that momentum holds, however.

NFLPA Grades vs Team Success

2026 NFLPA Top 5

1. 7-10 Miami Dolphins
2. 9-8 Minnesota Vikings
3. 5-12 Washington Commanders
4. 14-3 Seattle Seahawks
5. 13-4 Jacksonville Jaguars

2026 NFLPA Bottom 5

• 6-11 Cincinnati Bengals (28th)
• 8-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (29th)
• 5-12 Cleveland Browns (30th)
• 3-14 Arizona Cardinals (31st)
• 10-7 Pittsburgh Steelers (32nd)

While some may discount the significance of the report card grades, it’s worth noting that the Miami Dolphins have ranked first overall in the annual survey for three straight seasons, despite finishing sub-.500 in each of the past two years. Player satisfaction and on-field success don’t always move in lockstep. The NFLPA report card measures workplace experience, while wins measure competitive execution. They’re often related, but not identical year-to-year. However, in the 2026 Report Card, teams in the top five averaged a 10-7 record (.588). Teams in the bottom five averaged a 6-11 record (.353).

You can check out the grades for all 32 NFL teams over at ESPN.

What are your takeaways from the Jaguars’ 2025 improvements in the NFL Players Association’s 2026 report card results, BigCatCountry? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!