Which NFL teams have the best weight rooms? Many pro football teams have built new training facilities or modernized their old ones in recent years, and there’s a never-ending arms race to muscle-out your rivals. For the third year, the NFL Player’s Association has issued its annual report card on the 32 NFL teams based on information provided by those teams’ current players.
This year, 1695 players participated. The 2025 report card was released today. Among the 11 categories ranked from F- to A+ is weight room. In that category, four teams received an A+ and another five earned an A. Only two teams received less than a C+, but those two, the Cardinals (31st) and Patriots (32nd), received Fs. Ouch! It’s the second straight year the Patriots failed, and the second time in three years for the Cardinals. (New facilities can fix this quick: The Falcons weight room got an F last year and an A+ this year!)
Six of last year’s top eight (A or A+) returned. It was the Cowboys and Vikings who dropped out of the A Club, but just barely. Both earned A- this time and ranked 11th and 10th, respectfully. The Cowboys’ weight room has slid from A+ to A to A- over the three annual surveys. Their training facilities were state-of-the-art when opened in 2016, but nine years is an eternity in the NFL and standards keep improving. Joining the top nine this year are the Browns (A), Chargers (A+), and Falcons (A+).
As for the rankings, we simply used the players’ scores, as each weight room was slotted from #1 to #32. We’ve also included the training room (workout and injury recovery facilities) and strength staff grades, though these did not directly affect the rankings. According to current NFL players, what follows are the nine best NFL weight rooms, ranked.
HONORABLE MENTION NFL WEIGHT ROOMS: RATED A
9. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
Weight Room: A / Training Room: B+ / Strength Staff: B
After earning a dismal weight room D+ two years ago, the Jags are on the honor roll for the second straight time. They made the climb by updating and expanding their training facilities. Jacksonville’s weight room is now 9420 square feet, plus a 1910-square foot upper cardio deck.
8. CLEVELAND BROWNS
Weight Room: A / Training Room: D+ / Strength Staff: B+
With a new, state-of-the-art weight room, the Browns climbed from a B+ last year to A this time. Great, but they still have a lot of work to do in other categories, including their training room (31st). Cleveland ranked 30th out of the 32 teams overall.
7. BUFFALO BILLS
Weight Room: A / Training Room: B- / Strength Staff: B+
The Bills weight room received A+ the last two years but dropped the + this time. The Bills spent $18 million to renovate their weight room, which was completed in 2019, tripling its size to an enormous 26,000 square feet. It features a workmanlike, industrial design. But new never stays new.
6. CHICAGO BEARS
Weight Room: A / Training Room: B+ / Strength Staff: B+
The Bears ranked just barely behind their NFL North archrivals. They did a major makeover of Halas Hall, including the weight room, before the 2019 season. Their weight room features a two-story glass wall looking out at the practice fields and bathing the iron in natural light.
5. GREEN BAY PACKERS
Weight Room: A / Training Room: A- / Strength Staff: B
Like last year, the Packers are just outside the A+ category. In a reverse of last year, the Packers training room ranked a little better than the Bears’, but their strength coaches ranked a little worse.
BEST NFL WEIGHT ROOMS: RATED A+
4. LAS VEGAS RAIDERS
Weight Room: A+ / Training Room: A / Strength Staff: A
What do the Raiders have to do be #1? They received a weight room A+ for the third straight year, as well as A’s for training room (#2) and strength staff (#4). Still, they were passed by the hard-charging Falcons and Chargers, with their newer facilities. The Raiders opened their Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center in 2021 with its 50,000 square foot “performance center.” It’s still newish but no longer newest.
3. LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
Weight Room: A+ / Training Room: A- / Strength Staff: A
The Chargers took almost as big a leap as the Falcons, from D+ last year to A+ this year. They did it by building an entirely new, state-of-the-art training facility in El Segundo, California. The Bolt, as it’s named, is 150,000 square feet. The weight room takes up 7000 square feet and features glass doors that open up for an additional 3000 feet of outdoor workout space. With glass walls on three sides and inside/outside blending together, this may be the most scenic NFL weight room.
2. ATLANTA FALCOLNS
How do you go from F to A+ in a year? You renovate and expand your training facilities. That’s what the Falcons did with a 14,000-foot extension to house the new, two-story weight room. It’s not just much bigger. It’s also much better, and on the cutting edge of workout tech. For example, all 14 cage racks are equipped with iPad technology that measures barbell speed and peak velocity of reps. Their training room and strength staff were only 12th and 7th, respectfully, but their weight room is considered the second best in the NFL.
Weight Room: A+ / Training Room: B / Strength Staff: A
1. MIAMI DOLPHINS
Weight Room: A+ / Training Room: A / Strength Staff: A+
Still undefeated in the weight room poll: Once again, the Dolphins come out on top. And it wasn’t close. In fact, they had the #1 weight room, training room, strength staff, and training staff; and they were #1 overall for an organization. The Dolphins weight room, which opened in 2021 as part of their $135 million, 125,000 square foot Baptist Health Training Complex, has everything to earn top honors on this list: (relative) newness, plenty of space, inspiring design, modern equipment, glass wall for natural light, a slide—wait, what? Yep, it even features a giant, metal slide to travel on your glutes from the upper, cardio deck to the ground floor!
