INDIANAPOLIS — The Washington Commanders are dead last no more.
After previously ranking 32nd among the NFL’s 32 teams for its workplace environment and culture in the NFL Players Association’s annual survey, the franchise jumped 21 spots to 11th, one of the most significant signs yet of Washington’s dramatic turnaround under owner Josh Harris. Dan Quinn was the top-ranked head coach in the league, a year after he was ranked as one of the top two coordinators when he was ran the Dallas Cowboys’ defense.
“Josh Harris last year had one of my favorite quotes — ‘I’m not an F-minus guy’ — and proved it this year,” NFLPA chief strategy officer JC Tretter said Wednesday. “I think what’s impressive about that is it really shows the point of this project. If you’ve been in the Commanders’ facility, it’s still the same facility. … He made changes in staffing, he made changes in what players had been asking for and he changed the culture there, and you could feel that.”
The players’ association canvassed the league from August to November last season and received responses from 1,695 players, an average of 52 per team.
Tretter noted that the surveys and grades from players showed no correlation to teams’ winning percentage; the Kansas City Chiefs, for instance, have ranked among the worst teams in multiple categories over the years, despite playing in five of the last six Super Bowls.
The Commanders, however, have improved nearly every facet of their operations, according to the survey, resulting in not just better accommodations for players but better play on the field. Washington’s 12-5 record in the 2024 season was its best in 33 years, leading to its first NFC championship game appearance since the 1991 season.
Shortly after taking over the team in July 2023, Harris and his partners, including Mitch Rales and Mark Ein, met with players to learn the shortcomings of the facilities and operations and to understand what they wanted to change. Using the players’ input, the owners made vast changes to the facilities and added services that many players had been requesting for years.
At the stadium, the team now offers day care for the children of players and staff members during games. The Commanders’ treatment of families received a B+ grade, up from an F-minus grade last year.
Instead of housing players at a budget hotel during training camp, Washington had players stay at Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Va., and it traveled to Baltimore for its Week 6 meeting with the Ravens in luxury “sleeper” buses. The Commanders received an A grade for travel, after getting an F-minus two years ago and an F last year.
The team tweaked its food services to include not just plated meals but also buffet-style offerings, improving its grade from a D+ in the previous survey to a B+.
Washington’s infamous 30-year-old turf field at its Ashburn training facility was pulled up and replaced with grass. Harris green-lit a total revamp of the Commanders’ training facility, with renovated meeting rooms, improved shower areas and changes to travel arrangements.
Harris and his ownership team, which includes 20 limited partners, have also invested more than $75 million on repairs to the stadium, on improving the traffic flow around it and on new premium suites.
Among the persistent bright spots for Washington, even when the rest of the team’s operations lagged: its strength and conditioning staff. The group, led by Chad Englehart, received at least an A grade for the third straight year.
The NFLPA began surveying players about team workplaces and general operations during the 2022 season, hoping to gain a clearer perspective of the differences between clubs and to pressure owners to make improvements where necessary.