ATLANTA — The NFL fought tooth and nail to keep the 2026 NFLPA report cards locked in a vault. The league won a labor grievance just two weeks ago to ban their public release. It didn’t matter. The results leaked Thursday, sending an immediate shockwave through Flowery Branch: new Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski received a C-, the absolute lowest grade among all 32 NFL head coaches.
The Cleveland Hangover Hits Atlanta
Stefanski earned that abysmal mark during his final, disastrous 3-14 campaign with the Cleveland Browns in 2025. Atlanta hired him on January 17, banking on his two-time AP Coach of the Year pedigree to revive a franchise stuck in an eight-year playoff drought. Now, the front office faces an immediate public relations fire.
ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler blew the lid off the secret survey, which polled an unprecedented 80 percent of the league’s players. The raw data paints a bleak picture of Stefanski’s final days in Ohio. He didn’t just lose games; he completely lost the locker room. The Browns won just eight of his final 34 matchups. Players slammed the facility, the training staff, and ultimately, the man running the show. To make matters worse, Tommy Rees—whom Stefanski brought with him to Atlanta as the new offensive coordinator—managed an even lower D+ grade.
You could almost feel the tension spike inside the Falcons’ facility when the news broke. Atlanta spent the last month selling the fanbase on Stefanski’s disciplined, CEO-style leadership. But inside the locker room, that same guarded, emotionless approach frustrated players during his downward spiral in Cleveland. When a team starts losing, a rigid coach quickly turns into an unpopular one.
“The rules are made up and the points don’t matter until you start losing. When a guy acts like a CEO and the stock tanks, nobody wants to work for him. The trust completely broke.”
— Anonymous Browns Veteran, on the 2025 locker room collapse
Playoff Implications / What’s Next
What happens next dictates the entire 2026 season for Atlanta. The Falcons front office engineered a massive overhaul, stripping the old regime and bringing in General Manager Ian Cunningham alongside Stefanski. They are staring down massive roster decisions, including the impending release of veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins and navigating a tight $10.9 million in available salary cap.
Stefanski cannot afford a slow start. The honeymoon phase is already over. The coach must immediately bridge the gap with an Atlanta locker room that undoubtedly read Thursday’s leak. He has offensive weapons like Drake London and Kyle Pitts, but he has to prove his system works without alienating his roster. If he fails to connect with the Falcons’ core veterans during the upcoming OTAs, the ghosts of his Cleveland collapse will haunt Mercedes-Benz Stadium before Week 1 even kicks off.
