Bucs Grades Comedy From The Players’ Union
March 1st, 2026
Much was made last week when internal grades of teams by players were leaked to the public after a court ruling said the NFL players’ union was no longer permitted to publish those annual grades.
Little clarity was provided.
For example, the players graded each team in 18 categories “from Nov. 2 to Dec. 11.” of 2025, per the ESPN leak. So the Bucs’ record was 6-2 at the start of the survey while the team was comfortably loving life on a bye week. Bye the end of open voting period, the Bucs were reeling with a 7-7 record following utter humiliation on Thursday Night Football.
When were most of the surveys answered? That sure seems like an important question for the Tampa Bay locker room. But there were no specifics offered.
Specific questions were not releaved, nor any players’ comments shown, among other things, so Joe struggles to evaluate the Bucs grades seriously.
Here they are, as leaked by ESPN:
Treatment of Families: D
Home Game Field: F-
Food/Dining Area: D+
Nutritionist/Dietician: B-
Locker Room: D-
Training Room: C
Training Staff: C+
Weight Room: A-
Strength Coaches: A
Position Coaches: B
Offensive Coordinator: B
Defensive Coordinator: A-
Special Teams Coordinator: C+
Team Travel: F
Head Coach: B
General Manager: A-
Team Ownership: D
Overall Rank: 29
Looking at extremes in the grades, the “F-” for the hoe playing field is somewhat understandable. Grades for grass fields were down around the league, and the Bucs field was too often chewed up by a college game, and the Bucs’ played a home game in steady rain on Dec. 7, against the Saints. That couldn’t have helped.
As for Team Travel getting an “F,” Joe knows other clubs travel fancier. Bucs players gave the team a “C-” grade in 2025.
Did the Bucs have a bad delay or a crappy hotel last season? Warm beer after the win in Seattle? Poor air circulation after burritos were served?
The Bucs’ “A” grade for the strength coaches is ironic considering the Bucs let go of their head strength coach following last season.
The Bucs’ “defensive coordinator” got an “A-,” and the head coach got a “B.” This tells Joe a lot of Bucs players voted early in the season. For those wondering, yes, they’re both the same person: Todd Bowles. Those results also speak to how well-liked Bowles is.
The “A-” for Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht is impressive. He’s known around the NFL for being close with players and highly-respected by them. That’s difficult when you’re controlling who gets paid.
Team Glazer getting a “D” after a earning a “D+” grade last year is somewhat funny. Joe suspects most players hang the quality of travel and the game field on ownership, so those are probably major factors.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:48 am
Are players leaving during free agency because of the grades? No.
Does Team Glazer care about the grades? Probably not, because the travel, family, and facility grades are about the same as last year. It seems Team Glazer spends less money than other owners in these areas and they don’t really care what the players think.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:51 am
What do peope expect from pamperred and indulged professional children? The grade for Bowles as a HC and DC is expected. Pretty sure that Todd B doesn’t ever have tackling practice or consequences for guys who are continually out of position and appear lost on the field. Essentially, the Bowles grade is for him a “not coaching” grade. We don’t ever really see TB coach. He surely doesn’t do it on game day as he becomes just another spectator/fan.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:59 am
The D for the Glazers was because they are cheap owners who only care about lining their pockets. That’s the reason they kept Bowles as head coach and DC.
March 1st, 2026 at 9:01 am
well I would say that is between the players and ownership.
March 1st, 2026 at 9:05 am
Here’s the Curse’s grade for the player’s 2025 performance: “D”
March 1st, 2026 at 9:11 am
Strange grades.
March 1st, 2026 at 9:12 am
You can spin it however you want, but team travel, dining, and treatment of families when they travel has been an issue on these grades for a solid decade. I’m surprised it hasn’t been detrimental to getting free agents, maybe it has, but it should be fixed.
March 1st, 2026 at 9:13 am
Defense coordinator A- ??????????????????? hahahaha
March 1st, 2026 at 10:07 am
I mean, being damn near dead last in the league should really bother people. Spin it however, but it should be embarrassing. Do we want to be an upper tier organization or being trash. Reputation matters, how people talk about the Bucs matters, optics matters
March 1st, 2026 at 10:25 am
“Poor air circulation after burritos were served”. Lmao!!!!!! Thanks Joe! I just shot coffee out my eyes!
March 1st, 2026 at 10:57 am
Special Teams was horrific from beginning to end, regardless of when the survey was taken. C+ bwahahahaaha I presume MSNBC compiled this information.
March 1st, 2026 at 11:16 am
No, Lefty, it was produced by Fox News. ~$800 million fine for lying to it’s viewers!
March 1st, 2026 at 11:21 am
The biggest one that the Bucs leadership should be embarrassed about is the continuing low grade on the locker room.
Remembering back to the notes from other years — the players have talked about the smell, bugs, mold, cleanliness of the locker room.
Really, as this has continued — not overhauling the locker room is an essential and fundamental flaw that the ownership should get extremely low grades just for that issue.
Overall, I’ve been a fan of the Glazer crew. Not on this issue.
And I am pretty certain; the ownership could fix the locker room issues with a relatively small investment of 3 to 10 million.
1. Special epoxy or other industrial flooring that does not allow critters (bugs or vermin).
2. Antimicrobial acrylic solid surface lockers.
3. Updated plumbing
4. A much updated HVAC system. My gosh, if commercial cigar bars can manage ventilation to clear smoke smells, it is unacceptable that an NFL locker room cannot manage basic air circulation and odor.
I read the Jets, Packers, and Saints all did these types of upgrades so the Glazers should be able to get a fair price quote or two.
March 1st, 2026 at 11:25 am
BucsFanInOregon you live in OR no wonder you bleed pansy left blue. Stay away from these parts – only true Red Buccaneer men here.
March 1st, 2026 at 11:46 am
Hey Lefty, you’re insecurities are showing. Talk about small d energy
March 1st, 2026 at 11:47 am
Your*
March 1st, 2026 at 12:52 pm
29th…yup…glazers are trash
March 1st, 2026 at 1:34 pm
Joe … ‘Looking at extremes in the grades, the “F-” for the home playing field is somewhat understandable. Grades for grass fields were down around the league, and the Bucs field was too often chewed up by a college game, and the Bucs’ played a home game in steady rain on Dec. 7, against the Saints. That couldn’t have helped.
Home Game Field rated as F- by the players is very concerning because the Bucs have had such a high number of injuries. But don’t lay that on the Glazers. Raymond James Stadium is owned by Hillsborough County, leased by the Bucs, and managed by the Tampa Sports Authority. The field used to be one of the highest rated in the NFL, but in recent years it’s been quite the opposite.
Part of the problem IMO is that the County has to make money from venues other than the Bucs to keep it maintained, and so it’s constantly being used for events like Monster Truck Rallies & MotoCross events that bring in mega-tons of dirt, huge concerts with massive stages, USF football games that often are held just hours on Saturday before the Bucs play on Sunday, etc. And a crappy field invites injuries.
March 1st, 2026 at 2:06 pm
I tend to be cynical/skeptical about polls. Full disclosure: I am tempted by some polls to give facetious or flippant answers and I sometimes fall, so I suspect that others do as well How many players filled out the forms? Were all questions answered on all sheets? How much attention or thought was given to individual items by individual players? For example, the only concern I have heard about the training facilities is the size of the dumbbells there. Not to go on, but I would not spend a minute or a penny on changing these things before making a serious, independent evaluation of the situation.
March 1st, 2026 at 5:53 pm
A – for DC????????? What crack baby submitted that vote?
March 2nd, 2026 at 12:44 am
Can you say spoiled rich kids and a less than helpful players union. How does the NFLPA rate the officiating? If they really want to help players…
Go Bucs!
March 2nd, 2026 at 1:03 am
Does anyone know what releaved means?
March 2nd, 2026 at 7:56 am
DR— You may have been lumping in all non-Bucs events into the same bucket, but as someone whose partner is closely associated with MonsterJam and the Monster Energy AMA SuperCross, she would tell me I was remiss to not mention that those events are always held immediately after the Super Bowl.
The roughest events are undeniably Saturday night USF games and secondly the summer concerts. The latter will never go away because the venue needs to work all year.