Nick Sirianni and Jeffrey Lurie get high scores as Eagles place 4th overall in poll of NFL players

INDIANAPOLIS — The Eagles placed fourth in the NFLPA’s player poll and had some of the best scores in the league for their head coach, owner, and training and strength staffs.

Coach Nick Sirianni and owner Jeffrey Lurie received A grades in two of three new categories in the second annual poll. Every Eagles player polled felt Sirianni was efficient with the team’s time, which placed first overall, and they also felt he was very willing to listen to the locker room (seventh overall).

Lurie received a rating of 9.4 out of 10 from players when considering his willingness to invest in the facilities, according to the survey.

The Eagles also improved in three areas in which they received mid-to-low-end scores last year: training room (C- to B+), locker room (C+ to B-), and team travel (D to C).

“Last year, the survey highlighted that the Eagles had some of the smallest hot/cold tubs in the league and this offseason, the team upgraded their tub room, which the players appreciated,” the NFLPA said.

“The players mention two priority areas that they would like to see upgraded as soon as possible. First is the team’s travel setup. Players feel crammed in the back of the plane while the staff sits in first class. The second issue players mention is the need for a renovated locker room, which feels outdated.”

The Eagles didn’t have an immediate response to the poll when contacted by The Inquirer. When asked about his team’s scores last March — particularly low ones in travel and treatment of families — Lurie said he didn’t want to comment without knowing how the survey was administered.

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The Eagles addressed travel by chartering a second plane to road games to give players more room last season. On one flight, coaches sit in first class while players reside in coach. The team’s remaining staff flies on the other plane.

Only 75% of the players feel they have a comfortable amount of personal space during flights, according to the poll. Asked for ways to potentially upgrade seating so that all players can sit in first class, NFLPA president JC Tretter said some NFL teams charter double-decker planes.

“I think everybody understands that the guys who are bigger, that are playing, probably have priority on the teams that have done that before, where the older guys get first-class seats and you work your way back, cramming everybody in the back,” Tretter said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“Philly’s got some big offensive tackles up there that [are] in the back of the plane. It probably doesn’t make much sense. They’re probably not even sitting. They’re probably standing. … Those are things that you can still make it better.”

As for the locker room at the NovaCare Complex, 85% of players felt it was big and 90% felt they had enough room in their individual lockers. But several have complained about the need for individual outlets to charge their phones and having seats that can be converted into beds.

The Eagles scored high marks, though, in food/cafeteria (A) and weight room (A-). And in terms of their staff, they fared well in training and strength coaches with A- grades — down slightly from last year’s A+ marks.

The only head coaches to receive higher grades than Sirianni were the Chiefs’ Andy Reid, the Lions’ Dan Campbell, and the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell. The only owners who placed ahead of Lurie were the Vikings’ Zygi Wilf and the Dolphins’ Stephen Ross.

The survey was conducted from Aug. 26 to Nov. 16 — four days before the then-8-1 Eagles beat the Chiefs — suggesting that some scores could have been worse if the poll had been completed after the team’s season-ending collapse.

The Eagles also received a lower grade in treatment of families, going from a B- to a C. Most of the players’ issues have to do with home game days. While the team provided a family room at Lincoln Financial Field last season, one player said that the area is “super small” and “gets very overcrowded after games.”

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Players and their families have postgame access to clubs at the Linc, but the players can be overwhelmed by fans, according to one veteran. The Eagles are also one of 11 teams that do not provide free, on-site day care to their players’ families, according to the survey.

The poll, which 1,706 players completed anonymously, was provided to every player on an NFL roster at the time of the survey, according to the NFLPA.

“The league and its clubs always encourage and solicit player feedback to help improve all facets of their NFL experience,” the league said in a statement. “We look forward to getting the opportunity to review the union’s questionnaire, and the data supporting it, after its release to the media.

“When we first learned of this survey yesterday, we took the opportunity again to invite the union to join the NFL in a rigorous and third-party scientific-based survey as we have previously done and is mandated by the collective bargaining agreement.”