September 13, 2023, 9:28 a.m. ET
The new executive director of the NFL Players Association has called on the league to convert all field surfaces to natural grass following Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending injury.
Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the fourth game of the Jets’ season on Monday night, ruining the superstar quarterback’s debut in New York and reigniting the league-wide debate over playing surfaces in NFL stadiums.
MetLife Stadium, home of the Jets and Giants, installed a new surface earlier this year called FieldTurf that is softer and feels better than the stadium’s previous artificial turf.
But Rodgers’ injury sparked widespread anti-turf protests, and NFLPA Executive Director Lloyd Howell echoed those sentiments in a statement released Wednesday morning.
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“Moving all stadium fields to high-quality natural grass surfaces is the easiest decision the NFL can make,” Howell said. “Players overwhelmingly prefer it and the data clearly shows that grass is simply safer than artificial turf. It’s a topic that was at the top of players’ lists during my team visits and one that I’ve brought up with the NFL.”
Rodgers suffered the injury while trying to get away from Bills defensive end Leonard Floyd. The four-time league MVP’s left leg became trapped in the turf and his Achilles tendon tore. A slow-motion replay showed his left calf – the same calf he strained during organized team activities – reverberating as he went to the ground to retrieve the sack.
Jets coach Robert Saleh told reporters he did not believe the playing surface caused Rodgers’ injury, saying, “If it was a non-contact injury, I think that would obviously be something that would have to be discussed.”
“It was a kind of violence [injury]Saleh said on Tuesday. “I think it was trauma-related. “I know the players prefer grass and there is a lot invested in these young men.”
The NFLPA released data earlier this year that concluded that non-contact injuries occurred more frequently on artificial turf than on grass during the 2022 regular season. However, internal league data reviewed by ESPN in November showed that the NFL’s recent rate of non-contact injuries to the knee, ankle and foot was about the same on natural and artificial playing surfaces. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said at the time that the NFL had no plans to convert all playing surfaces to grass, saying that “the league’s statistics don’t see any issues with the type of surface we have as opposed to natural grass.”
Howell said in his statement Wednesday that the union recognizes the “investment” required to convert all stadiums to grass, but also questioned why NFL team owners are planning these changes for the 2026 World Cup but not for their own players .
“While we know this change requires an investment, if we continue to lose our best players to unnecessary injuries, there will be greater costs for everyone in our organization,” Howell said. “It makes no sense for stadiums to switch to high-quality grass surfaces at the World Cup or for football clubs to visit for summer friendlies, but low-quality artificial pitches are acceptable for our own players. It’s worth the investment.” Things simply have to change now.
Howell took over from DeMaurice Smith in June when the union’s Board of Player Representatives elected him as the fourth executive director in NFLPA history.
When Rodgers was asked about the new MetLife surface in August, he said he preferred grass but also emphasized that he liked the FieldTurf, calling it “one of the best artificial surfaces I’ve ever seen.”
However, several players strongly criticized the artificial surface after Rodgers’ injury, including his former Packers teammate and close friend David Bakhtiari.
“Congratulations @nfl,” Bakhtiari said on social media Monday. “How many players still have to be injured on ARTIFICIAL GRASSES??! They care more about football players than we do. They plan to remove all artificial turf for the upcoming World Cup. So it’s clearly doable. I’m tired of this.” “Do better!”
Eagles cornerback Darius Slay also weighed in on the quality of MetLife Stadium’s surface on Tuesday.
“MetLife, everyone knows this damn stadium,” Slay said. “You need real grass. That is trash. It’s sad that anyone’s going down because we’re playing this dangerous game, man. Everyone thinks we’re superheroes, but we’re really not.”
ESPN’s Rich Cimini contributed to this report.