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Report card reveals troubling issues for Super Bowl champs
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports

Report card reveals troubling issues for Super Bowl champs

Kansas City, fresh off a Super Bowl win, is at the forefront of the NFL's offensive explosion. Behind the scenes, however, the team is well behind the curve.

Per the NFLPA's NFL Player Team Report Cards, the Chiefs ranked 29th in the league in terms of players' overall satisfaction with such areas as the team's facilities, training staff, nutrition, travel and treatment of families. That last category includes areas such as providing daycare and safe spaces for families of players during games.

Kansas City's training staff ranked as the worst in the league. The report card specifically stated head trainer Rick Burkholder as a blight on an otherwise well-respected staff.

The report card stated players "feel discouraged from reporting their injuries" and "fear retribution for speaking up for better care."

The team only received one A -- an A-minus for the team's strength coaches. Nearly every team graded high in that category.

The organization received one B, for its treatment of families, but is one of 11 teams that does not offer daycare.

Kansas City's facilities received subpar grades, with the weight room (C-plus) and training room (D-plus) ranking in the bottom half of the league.

Even worse, according to players, is the locker room (D-minus), team travel (F) and the worst-ranked training staff ranking in football.

Per the report card, "The lockers are old and in desperate need of a renovation." Several players lamented having stools at their lockers instead of chairs "so they can lean back when sitting." HC Andy Reid went on record before the Super Bowl as being a big fan of rapper Master P, but he's apparently no fan of Terror Squad and their 2004 hit “Lean Back.”

The survey also revealed only 59 percent of players feel they have enough space when traveling, a result of having "very few first-class seats.”

Despite the team's shortcomings on the travel front, the organization may not have huge incentive to make upgrades. Why fix something that isn't broken?

Since Patrick Mahomes took over as QB in 2018, the team has had the same regular season record at home as it's had on the road (32-9). If nothing else, the player-graded team report cards indicate Mahomes is even more valuable than we thought.

He can cover up a lot of deficiencies, including making one of the league's most disappointing organizations off the field a Super Bowl winner on it.

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