Brandon Staley receives shocking grade from Chargers players despite being fired

By the time Brandon Staley was finally fired by the LA Chargers he had become unmeasurably unpopular with the fanbase. Staley's bad defense and questionable decisions put him on the hot seat and it was clear in his last game coached that the locker room had given up on him.

Thankfully, the Chargers made one of the biggest upgrades at head coach possible by hiring Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh just won the National Championship with Michigan and will look to win the Lombardi Trophy in Los Angeles.

While Harbaugh is definitely an upgrade over Staley, it does not appear that Staley was as disliked in the locker room as he was outside of it. In the second-annual NFLPA anonymous survey, the Chargers actually ranked quite high in the head coach department.

Brandon Staley receives highest Chargers grade in NFLPA survey

Believe it or not, the fired head coach actually received the highest grade for the Chargers in any of the categories. Granted, the Chargers tanked in just about every other category, but it is still surprising that Staley ranked so high.

The only other category that received a B grade was nutritionist/dietician. That didn't make much sense, either, as the Chargers were one of three teams to receive an F grade in food/cafeteria.

The survey was conducted between August and November, so these answers have nothing to do with Harbaugh being the new head coach of the team. That being said, the survey was also held before the season really started to unravel for the Chargers. If that survey was held in the last few weeks of Staley's tenure then it probably would have been different.

Either way, it is a sad indictment on the franchise that a fired head coach ranked higher than anything else related to the team. The Chargers received the third-lowest grade of all 32 teams, making it the second year in a row that the team is at the bottom of the barrel.

Thankfully, the Chargers are opening a brand-new $270 million training facility in time for training camp and have a new head coach and GM who are going to implement new standards across the organization.

The results may have been bad for two years in a row but we should see a massive jump when the results are released next year. If not, then the organization has an even bigger problem on its hands.