Vikings Voted Best Team to Play For by NFL Players Association
Josh Frey
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For the first time ever, the NFL Players Association released what they are calling “player team report cards” for each NFL franchise. 1300 players participated in grading these teams, and grades here broke down into eight key categories:
- Treatment of families
- Food service/nutrition
- Weight room
- Strength coaches
- Training room
- Training staff
- Locker room
- Team travel
As you can see from the ESPN article linked above, the Minnesota Vikings were voted the best team to play for following the 2022 season, being the only franchise in the league to have at least “A-” grades across the board. Minnesota received three “A+” grades coming in the strength staff, training staff, and training room categories. Their only “A-” came in the nutrition category.
This is an important note to remember with free agency fast approaching. The league’s legal tampering period begins on March 13th, so we are not too far away from players being able to meet with teams and decide where they want to play in 2023.
If the Vikings have one of the best facilities and an outstanding environment around their team, then that should be an enticing factor for free agents this spring. Add on top of that the hire of Brian Flores, one of the more beloved defensive coaches in the entire NFL, and the Vikings could become a very popular location in a couple weeks.
The only question is, how do the Vikings create the cap room in order to sign these free agents? Be sure, there are multiple directions that Minnesota can go in order to do this, but they need to do it soon, seeing as they sit around $24 million over the cap right now.
Regardless, it seems much more favorable to be in a position where the team needs to find money for all the players rather than finding players for all their money. This free agency period could be a pivotal one in Minnesota’s pursuit of a Super Bowl, and this NFLPA “report card” speaks very highly of the Vikings’ chances of finding major contributors in a couple weeks.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.