The sport of football has always been, and will continue to be, a physical sport. Although the rules of the game have changed drastically to help protect players, injuries still don’t seem to slow down.
The conversation around turf fields over the last few years has risen dramatically, from the pro level all the way down to the high school ranks. Current and former NFL players have been seen taking their concerns to Twitter about turf fields, noting that change needs to happen. One of the bigger names, former Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp, shared his frustration after his season-ending injury back in November.
“I believe that we, and all teams, should be playing on grass,” Kupp said on Twitter. “This is an age-old issue and I believe the time to address the problem is now! Let’s have the conversation.”
In the local area, this issue doesn’t arrive often because most of the county is playing on grass, which is safer to land on than what turf fields are. The current 2022-23 NFL season has seen many players go down with concussions due to landing on turf fields.
Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, has dealt with three different concussions this season, all from landing his head on turf fields. Many players state that landing on turf ‘feels like you are landing on concrete’ and that grass fields are a better option to use.
Another popular player in Nick Bosa, who is a defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers, took to Twitter, also, to express his issue with turf fields.
“NFL says they care about player safety, yet they can’t put us on a natural surface,” he said.
These injuries are commonly seen on the pro, collegiate, and high school levels. While the NFL hasn’t directly come out and say anything about turf fields, owner of the Denver Broncos, Greg Penner, spent over $400,000 on replacing the field for his team for their season finale back on Jan. 7. The reasoning was the field was “simply not up to our standards.”
Many players also believe that if the NFL would make the move to go to all grass fields, other levels of the sport would follow behind them.
As the offseason comes closer, the time could be close for turf fields to be removed from the game, only if the NFL sees fit.