NFLPA president says 2022 season data proves natural grass is ‘significantly safer surface’ than turf

NFLPA president JC Tretter has been asking for the NFL to improve playing surfaces to decrease unnecessary injuries. Tretter, after taking feedback from players who have expressed concern about some of the league’s playing surfaces, has asked the NFL — among other things — for an immediate ban of slit film turf back in November. 

The plea worked as two stadiums, MetLife Stadium (New York Giants and New York Jets) and Ford Field (Detroit Lions), won’t be using that specific turf in 2023. However, slit film turf is still currently used in four stadiums: U.S. Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings), Caesars Superdome (New Orleans Saints), Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis Colts) and Paycor Stadium (Cincinnati Bengals).

Now, Tretter is pushing for the unanimous use of natural grass playing surfaces across the league, highlighting that injury rates on natural grass were lower over an eight-year period from 2012-2020 in a letter published on the NFLPA website Wednesday. However, the turf and natural grass injury percentages were similar in 2021, something Tretter labeled an “outlier.” 

“Instead of following the long-term data (which is clear on this issue), listening to players and making the game safer,” Tretter said in his letter. “The NFL used an outlier year to engage in a PR campaign to convince everyone that the problem doesn’t actually exist. In short, last year, the gap — much like the NFL’s credibility with players on this issue — was as wide as it has ever been, proving that (as the NFLPA suspected) 2021 was in fact an outlier. Now, 10 of the previous 11 years show the same exact thing — grass is a significantly safer surface than turf.”  

The league addressed Tretter’s claims on Thursday with a statement, via ESPN, from Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy. Miller’s bottom line was “there are no simple answers.”

“The NFL and the NFLPA have access to the same injury information, which is collected by independent experts and shared at the CBA-mandated Joint Field Surface Safety and Performance Committee meetings,” Miller’s statement said. “The committee, including the NFLPA’s experts, believe that simply playing on natural grass is not the answer to this complex challenge. Some artificial turf surfaces have a lower injury rate than some grass fields — and some grass fields have a lower injury rate than some…