The New England Patriots don't just have a lot of challenges in building a better roster for on-field success. According to the latest results of the annual NFLPA survey, the Patriots have many areas off the field requiring significant improvement.
The Patriots ranked 29th out of 32 teams in the new NFLPA survey, which grades each franchise on things such as their weight room, locker room, food, strength coaches, travel, among several others.
The Patriots graded especially poorly in treatment of families and weight room, where they received an F- and F, respectively. They also received a D+ or worse in ownership and team travel.
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Here's a full list of the grades from the survey, which was conducted between August and November 2023:
The F- for treatment of families is a pretty bad look for the organization. According to the NFLPA, the Patriots' poor grade in this category is a result of them being "one of 12 teams that do not provide a family room during games" and "one of seven teams that do not provide daycare support for players' children on gameday."
The Patriots ranked dead last in the weight room category. Per the NFLPA, the Patriots are "the only team in the NFL with a majority of players feeling that their team's facility is worse than places they could train offsite."
Ownership received a D+ grade, which was 27th. The NFLPA's explanation for that grade states, "Club owner Robert Kraft receives a rating of 6.9/10 from Patriot players when considering his willingness to invest in the facilities."
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The Patriots have the third-most salary cap space of any team -- around $78 million, per OverTheCap -- but unless they overpay, what are the odds that the top-tier free agents are coming to New England when the market opens next month?
Not only are the Patriots unlikely to compete for the playoffs next season, they rank average or worse, at least according to this survey, in categories like locker room, training room, weight room, strength coaches, team travel, etc.
If the Patriots want to be an attractive destination for free agents, they have to significantly improve in many of these areas.