PALM BEACH — Last month, Woody Johnson and the Jets received an F on the latest NFL Players Association record card.
On Monday, Johnson had strong reactions about the grade the team received.
“My first read is I think it was totally bogus,” Johnson said. “I thought this whole setup the way it was done, that’s enough said on that.”
But then, Johnson was asked what exactly was bogus about the NFLPA report card.
“The whole thing,” Johnson said. “How they collected the information and who they collected it from was supposed to be according to the agreement we have with the league is supposed to be a process. We have representatives and they have representatives, so we know it’s an honest survey and that was violated in my opinion.
“I’m just going to leave it at that, but I think there’s a lot of owners that looked at that survey and said it is not fair, it’s not balanced. It is not every player, it is not even representative players.”
During this year’s survey, 1.695 players participated and graded teams in several categories, including treatment of families, food and dining, nutritionist/dietician, locker room, training room, coaching, and ownership. The Jets ranked 29th out of 32 in the 11 categories, which was lower than in 2024 when they ranked 21st overall.
Johnson, 77, was also given an F for ownership and finished dead last among the 32 NFL owners. A year ago, he received a B-minus.
Following the public concerns of the Jets players, Johnson said he wanted to communicate better with them about their concerns. Also, after hiring head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey in January, Johnson said he needed to look in the mirror and become a better owner.
“We want to get better every day in every category,” Johnson said. “I want to be number one in everything, all of our people do. Including on the field, but also off the field and all of our philanthropies, so we wanna be number one.”
Despite having less than ideal marks on the NFLPA report card, Johnson doesn’t believe that will affect the Jets’ ability to attract free agents.
“If there’s areas we can improve and I think there’s always areas we can improve, not because of this bogus report, we’re going to do it. The relationship with the players is very important. We want to make sure the players are involved now and whatever they want to comment on.
“If [the players] are getting bored with the food or bored with the way the place looks, let me know. I can’t do anything if they don’t tell me, so I think we’re going to have a lot better communication with the players in terms of what they’re looking at every day.”
The Jets are coming off another disappointing season after finishing 5-12, in which they had Super Bowl aspirations. That led to the firings of both coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas. Aaron Rodgers was also released earlier this month.
“Both Aaron [Glenn] and the general manager [Darren Mougey] made the decision it was time to move on,” Johnson said. “The experiment was a good experiment, to bring him in, but it just didn’t work out, as you can see. I have a lot of respect for Aaron Rodgers.
“He is a great player, a Hall of Fame player. I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but we made a choice. I think we made the right choice. They made the right choice.”
Johnson also confirmed the Sports Business Journal report that 170 of the N.Y. Jets’ 250 employees had to decide by March 31 whether to accept voluntary buyout offers issued earlier this month. He said there would be no layoffs within the organization. However, the Jets are offering buyouts in hopes of improving the organization’s culture.
“We are in a major transition in terms of culture and the way we do things,” Johnson said. “We thought this is a good time to give everybody a chance to reevaluate what they’re doing in their lives.
“We want people that are all-in, 100 percent to what the plan is, what we’re trying to do on the football side. On the business side, they have to be exactly the same.”
