For all of the talk about banning the publication of the NFLPA report cards, the 2025 results were just released, and the Atlanta Falcons fared well all things considered. Arthur Blank once again received stellar marks, while Zac Robinson was the clear weak spot for his awful work with the offense, yet Atlanta's grades still finished eighth in the NFL.
However, the most noteworthy storyline for the Falcons didn't even directly involve them: it came from new coach Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland. Stefanski's C- head coach grade ranked last among all NFL head coaches, which is an alarming development about his ability to keep a locker room united.
This could just be a Browns thing, but it's not a good look regardless of how you frame it. The two-time Coach of the Year is the man Matt Ryan is risking everything to back in Atlanta, but even that note of confidence won't matter much if he can't rally the support of the locker room for his vision.
Kevin Stefanski's NFLPA report card grade gives Falcons fans something to worry about
Weirdly enough, Raheem Morris received a higher head coaching grade than Stefanski, but the Dirty Birds did love Morris. This is not to say the on-field result will be worse or the same story will repeat itself with the Falcons, but it is something you have to keep note of, especially in the modern NFL.
Something to keep in mind is that Aaron Glenn received an A from the Jets' locker room. Even though they were consistently losing in pathetic fashion, he never lost the respect of the players. However, Bill Belichick was consistently graded poorly and a lot of players don't like genuinely being coached.
To the 43-year-old's credit, he was coaching a Browns team with virtually no talent after already leading them to the playoffs on multiple occasions. He was equipped with debatably the worst QB room in the NFL and virtually no talent on offense, so no wonder they got tired of his philosophy.
Thankfully, Stefanski brought back Jeff Ulbrich, who received rave reviews as you'd expect. The biggest concern with these grades is that while Robinson's C+ is indicative of who the problem was, Tommy Rees' grade was even worse, as he came away with a D+ grade in his first year as an NFL OC.
I'm no rocket scientist, but seeing both your head coach and offensive coordinator get dragged through the mud by their former team? That is brutal, especially when the Falcons do have everything they could possibly want to thrive on offense. Hopefully this grade goes up in the 2026 iteration, but more importantly, the fanbase is on board with the hire.