Aaron Rodgers' season-ending injury reignites NFL players' furor over turf

It’s the debate that just won’t quit. Not now.

Grass vs. turf.

Maybe no NFL player said it better this week – after Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon while playing on artificial turf at MetLife Stadium on Monday night – than Green Bay Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari in expressing disdain for playing on fake grass.

“It sucks,” Bakhtiari, who was Rodgers' blindside protector from 2013-22, said during an appearance on the "Rich Eisen Show." “No one enjoys playing on it. Everyone is too scared to talk about it. NFL, just do better, be better, be an advocate for us and help us out.”

Don’t hold your breath.

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While the NFL has been so aggressive in recent years when instituting rules designed to reduce head injuries and protocols to promote treatment of concussions, there apparently is no rush to react to the chorus of dissent from NFL players who contend they are getting the short shrift on another health and safety issue that confronts the league.

Maybe the injury that took out Rodgers, a four-time NFL MVP, will add fuel to the give-us-grass movement among NFL players. Never mind that it hasn’t been determined how much of a role the turf played in his injury.

Rodgers' incident brings attention to the issue, intended or not, because he’s one of the NFL’s biggest names.

This, while a double standard exists with cases where some stadiums have switched from turf to grass to accommodate international soccer matches – and more cases coming when the World Cup comes to North America – then switching back to turf for NFL games like a slap in the face.

On Wednesday, Lloyd Howell, the new executive director of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), issued a statement imploring that the NFL ban all artificial surfaces and play games only on grass fields. At the moment, 15 of the NFL’s 30 stadiums utilize grass fields.

How is Howell’s demand for all grass playing on Park Avenue?

“They have said that in many cases,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said during an interview with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s "First Take." “But you have other players who like playing on the turf field, because it’s faster. So, you’ve got mixed opinions.”

Funny, but I’ve not heard many players express a preference for playing on turf.

After Monday night’s game, New York Jets receiver Randall Cobb was adamant.

“Never been a fan of turf,” Cobb said. “Never will be a fan of turf.”

And Breece Hall, the Jets running back coming off a torn ACL that ruined his rookie season, told The Athletic: “Grass. That’s my answer. We want grass. I busted my knee on turf. I want grass.”

Will players supposedly in the turf-is-better camp that Goodell referenced please make themselves known?

“What we want to go on is the science,” Goodell added, repeating the typical NFL response. “We want to go on what’s best from an injury standpoint to prevent injuries and give our players the best possible surfaces to play on.”

That sounds good until the NFL and NFLPA clash on what the science says. Last year, when the NFL touted that there was virtually no gap between the rate of lower extremity injuries suffered on turf when compared to grass in 2021, some, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, expressed that the statistics compiled by an independent third-party agent, IQIVA, backed up the contention that turf was as safe as grass.

J.C. Tretter, the NFLPA president, shot back hard. Tretter, a former NFL center, said the 2021 statistics represented an “outlier year” and that a longer-term study from 2012-2020 proved that turf was more dangerous. Also, in April, the NFLPA released figures from the 2022 season that were more consistent with the statistics from the longer-term study.

During a media conference call this week, Jeff Miller, an NFL executive vice president, again contended that the data shows that some grass fields have a lower injury rate than synthetic surfaces and some turf field have a lower rate than grass.

“Our efforts are to drive down those rates on both surfaces,” Miller said.

Last year, the NFLPA pushed for the elimination of “slit-film” turf surfaces that data showed increased injury risk. While monofilament infill consists of single blades of fake grass, slit-film has openings in the blades that make it more likely for cleats to get tangled.

Of the six NFL stadiums with slit-film surfaces last season, three have converted this year to turfs that are considered safer, including MetLife Stadium. New Orleans and Detroit have also done away with slit-film surfaces. But three stadiums with slit-film surfaces remain: in Minnesota, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. 

While the adjustments with the style of turf in some stadiums may represent a measure of progress, it still doesn’t address the principle issue for many NFL players: They want to play on grass.

“The biggest thing, really, is about risk of injury,” Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Calais Campbell, a member of the NFLPA’s executive committee, told USA TODAY Sports in June.

Then again, significant injuries in football can occur anywhere at any time. While Rodgers was injured while playing on the new FieldTurf CORE installed at MetLife Stadium, Baltimore Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins suffered a torn Achilles tendon, too, during his season opener.

A difference? Dobbins was injured while playing on grass. Miller maintained that according to injury data dating to 2015, “there’s no difference” in the rate of Achilles tendon injuries between synthetic surfaces and grass.

While the injury analysis in each of these cases will consider multiple variables in addition to surface (including style of cleats, impact of collisions, etc.), the real game-changer might come with some stadiums temporarily converting to grass fields for soccer matches.

In his statement this week, Howell said “it makes no sense” that NFL stadiums will switch from turf to grass surfaces to accommodate soccer matches, as will be the case for the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025 and the World Cup in 2026.

Last year, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte installed grass for an exhibition soccer match between Charlotte FC and Chelsea. In July, the surface at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, was switched to grass for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, then converted back to synthetic turf for the Rams and Chargers games.

If grass is good enough for the soccer players, why not for the NFL?

“If they spend the money to turn it to grass, we’re hoping that they keep it as grass,” Campbell said.

He knows. Grass is not as cost-efficient as turf. Stadiums can stage other events, such as concerts, without the worry of damaging the grass when they have turf fields.

“But if you’re going to turn it to grass, I think there should be a strong push to keep it as grass,” Campbell said.

It’s also gotten to the point where grass works at domed stadiums. Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, use grass that is grown and maintained outdoors, then brought in for games on huge trays.

So, basically, if there’s a will there’s a way.

Ultimately, this debate may not be fully resolved without it being included in the collective bargaining agreement. It was hardly an issue when the last labor pact between the league and players was struck in 2020. Apparently, there were more pressing economic matters to hash out.

It could be a long time before it gets to a bargaining table, with the current CBA running through March 2030.

“As a union, we’ve talked about all the different ways we can try to make that happen,” Campbell said. “It’s something we want. Over time, it will work itself out. But if we have a leverage point for it to happen sooner, it will.”

Bakhtiari issued a warning to the NFL during his chat with Eisen.

“Quit ignoring it and address it now,” he said. “It not, it’s going to get bigger and bigger.”

We’ll see. Goodell indicated on "First Take" that he would be open to discussing it before the CBA expires following the 2030 season.

“It’s important to address issues now,” Goodell said. “Let’s not wait until the end of the collective bargaining agreement. These issues, if they should be accelerated, let’s get to it. If there are other issues, let’s get to it. Let’s find solutions and let’s make the game better.”

Goodell’s words sounded promising to the players’ agenda. Yet given big-business ramifications and labor talks that are often difficult, history suggests that a resolution for this debate won’t happen anytime soon.