Commanders add new trainers after receiving ‘F’ from players

The NFL’s lowest-ranked athletic training staff welcomed fresh blood on Monday. The Washington Commanders added new trainers after coming in last on a report card grading teams on how players are treated.

Ryan Juarez joins the organization as the director of rehabilitation while Jamal Randall Sr. will serve as the senior physical therapist and assistant athletic director. The pair will work under Tim McGrath, who also joined the Commanders this offseason to lead player health initiatives.

In a survey released by the NFL players’ union in February, Commanders players expressed frustration with the status of the team’s training staff, highlighting a lack of full-time trainers and underwhelming equipment. The training room earned an F-minus. The staff received an F.

“I’m not an F-minus guy,” team owner Josh Harris told reporters at March’s league meetings. “I didn’t even know you could get an F-minus. Obviously, we’ve jumped all over that.”

Juarez, Randall and McGrath will create a rehabilitation unit, the Commanders said. The group will focus on coordinating recovery efforts for injured players. They will also determine when players are ready to return to action.

“We’re trying to make a lot of changes quickly,” Harris said last month. “We want to be a place that everyone says, ’That’s a great place to be.’ And therefore, we need to upgrade that facility, and we are upgrading that facility.”