David Andrews reacts to Patriots’ low grades in NFLPA survey originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The New England Patriots were among the teams to receive poor grades in the NFL Players Association’s “Player Team Report Cards” survey. But if you ask longtime Pats center David Andrews, those grades aren’t an accurate representation of the experience in Foxboro.
Players from all 32 clubs assessed their own organization in eight off-field categories: treatment of families, nutrition, weight room, strength staff, training room, training staff and travel. The Patriots ranked 24th out of 32 teams overall with low grades for treatment of families (C-), training room (C-), team travel (D+), and weight room (D).
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Andrews doesn’t agree with all of those low marks.
“Any survey can be skewed,” Andrews said Thursday at a Red Across America campaign in Everett, Mass., per the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian. “There’s guys that may have only been in New England, guys that have maybe been with one other team, or ten other teams who took the survey. There’s guys that have families, guys that don’t have families, whatever it may be.
“For me, I think … I’ve loved my time here. And I think everything in that building is designed to help us succeed, and to help us win.”
The seven-year veteran also disagreed with part of the NFLPA report card that painted team owner Robert Kraft in a bad light. It stated that “it is understandable that only 64 percent of players believe club owner Robert Kraft is willing to spend the money necessary for upgrades, ranking him 26th in this category.”
“I think Mr. Kraft is super competitive. I think his focus is on winning, trying to win,” Andrews said. “And, like the coaches, is doing everything in his power to help us win. The Kraft family has been good to me. I’ll always have respect and appreciation for everything they’ve done.”
Andrews went on to praise all of the Patriots’ staff, including the training staff which received an ‘A’ grade. He acknowledged that parts of the survey, such as the Patriots not offering a family room and the weight room being outdated, weren’t unfounded.
“I can understand (some of the issues with the weight room, family room) but if you’ve only been to a few different teams, or one team, you might not know what it’s like (elsewhere),” he said, per Guregian. “But sometimes, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”
