DENVER — The Denver Broncos moved up four spots in their 2024 report card from the National Football League Players Association, to 16th in the league.
Among the highlights were the team’s ownership, head coach and nutrition program. The club scored poorly on strength coaches, locker room and family accommodations.
The NFLPA report card shows the results of a survey of NFL players to gauge their feelings about different teams’ facilities, coaching staffs and more. The report cards were designed to give free agents a better feel for the player experience on each NFL team, according to the NFLPA.
The Broncos’ 2024 report card is a ringing endorsement of the Walton-Penner ownership group, which is in its second offseason at the helm of the club. The survey gave the Broncos’ ownership group an “A” grade and ranked them fifth in the league, citing their willingness to invest in facilities.
Head coach Sean Payton received an “A-,” good for 17th in the league.
The team’s nutrition staff – which includes a new VP of player health & performance (Beau Lowery), a new director and assistant director of sports science (Joe Danos and Freddie Walker, respectively) and a new director of performance nutrition (Ema Thake) – ranked 7th best in the league, marking a stark turnaround from its No. 22 ranking a year ago.
Strength coaches, on the other hand, received a “C” grade and ranked 30th in the NFL – the Broncos’ worst-rated category and a significant drop-off from the “A-” and No. 17-overall ranking it received on the 2023 report card. Not everyone on the team feels they get individual strength plans and the players feel strength coaches “moderately contribute to their success.”
Payton hired Dan Dalrymple, who worked under Payton for years in New Orleans, to be the Broncos’ new strength coach in 2023.
Players also believe the Broncos’ locker room is lacking, ranking it 26th in the league. That problem, however, will be addressed with the team’s $175 million training facility set to begin construction this spring. Those plans, unveiled in November, include an expanded locker room and state-of-the-art performance areas.
The team was given a “D+” for its treatment of families for a second straight year, noting that it is one of 12 NFL clubs that does not have a family room at its stadium but that it does offer daycare.
Here’s a look at all of the Broncos’ grades and ranking among NFL teams, with their 2023 scores in parentheses. Some categories were added this year and thus don’t have a 2023 grade.
- Treatment of families: D+, 21st (D+, 24th)
- Food/Cafeteria*: B, 10th (D, 22nd)
- Nutritionist/Dietician: B+, 7th (D, 22nd)
- Locker room: D, 26th (D+, 22nd)
- Training room: B-, 17th (C+, 17th)
- Training staff: B, 11th (B, 28th)
- Weight room: B, 19th (B+, 13th)
- Strength coaches: C, 30th (A-, 17th)
- Team travel: B-, 10th (B+, 12th)
- Head coach: A-, 17th, (N/A)
- Ownership: A, 5th, (N/A)
*Food service and nutrition were listed as one category in 2023, and broken out into two in 2024.
