Woody Johnson on Jets' poor NFLPA report card: 'My first read is I think it is totally bogus'

[ASFN Admin]

The New York Jets dropped from 21st to 29th in the most recent NFLPA report card rankings with players unhappy with a lack of commitment and investment into building a winner, a poor team culture and a food program that has gone in the wrong direction.

During the NFL's annual league meetings Monday, Jets owner Woody Johnson responded to the criticisms, which included an "F" grade for ownership.

"My first read is I think it is totally bogus," Johnson said via The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt. "I thought this whole setup the way it was done is all … that’s enough said on that. But we want to get better every day, in every category. I want to be No. 1 in everything. All of our people do. We want to be No. 1, like we are in girls flag football. We’re No. 1 or 2 in the country and that’s where [we want] to be in everything, including on the field but also off the field in all of our philanthropy. So if there’s areas we can improve, and there’s always areas we can improve — not because of this bogus report — we are going to do it."

Johnson's use of "bogus" to describe the report was because of his objection to how the data was collected and who it was collected from.

"t’s supposed to be a process where we have representatives and they have representatives so we know it’s an honest survey," Johnson said. "And that was violated in my opinion. So I’ll leave it at that. But there’s a lot of owners that looked at this survey and said this is not fair, not balanced, it’s not every player, it’s not even representative of the players."

(There were 1,695 players who responded, but the survey did not specify how many players from each team participated.)

Jets players expressed that the problem areas they brought up in last year's survey were not addressed and that ownership decided to make "conditions worse" as a response.

“They talked about the culture — it’s a problem, top down,” NFLPA chief strategy officer J.C. Tretter said of the Jets’ response. “[They said,] ‘It’s a culture of fear here.’ And I think that stood out in those grades.”

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The Jets have not made the playoffs since reaching back-to-back AFC championship games in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images)
Ed Mulholland via Getty Images

Johnson went on to say Monday that the team's relationship with its players is "very, very important" and that players will be involved in providing feedback about life as a Jet inside and outside the training facility.

As for the food options, Johnson said, "If they like soufflé or fish or steak, they should tell us. If they’re bored with the food or the way the place looks, let me know. I can’t do anything if you don’t tell me. We’re going to have a lot better communication in terms of what they’re looking at every day. If I was looking at the same thing every day, I might get bored too. But it is good, our food is something I take a lot of pride in so to get graded in a way that — this is the food I would want. It’s the finest quality, best ingredients, no GMOs, the highest price for everything. The quality of our food is the best."

Johnson's comments came hours after a report that the Jets had offered buyouts to 170 out of their 250 employees earlier this month.


The Jets are coming off their ninth straight losing season and the franchise has not made the playoffs since reaching back-to-back AFC title games in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Bringing in Aaron Rodgers, which Johnson dubbed "a good experiment," did not work out, and the owner's hands-on approach to running the franchise came under scrutiny following a December report that included details about a Jerry Jeudy trade being nixed by Johnson because the wide receiver's rating in the Madden video game was not high enough and that Johnson's teenage sons have had influence on decision-making.

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