NFLPA executive director demands league take action on playing surfaces

NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell blasted the league over its playing surfaces in a statement released Wednesday morning.

"Moving all stadium fields to high quality natural grass surfaces is the easiest decision the NFL can make... It makes no sense that stadiums can flip over to superior grass surfaces when the World Cup comes, or soccer clubs come to visit for exhibition games in the summer, but inferior artificial surfaces are acceptable for our own players," wrote Howell. 

The debate about the use of artificial fields — a concern raised by players in the past — was renewed after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles 75 seconds into the 2023 season on MetLife Stadium's synthetic field.

In March 2023, MetLife Stadium installed "an updated version of FieldTurf," described by ESPN as a "multilayer dual-polymer monofilament fiber," which, in layman's terms, apparently means "garbage."

Per ESPN, "While not grass, the new surface is believed to be an improved synthetic turf that will decrease the number of injuries that occur at the home of the New York Giants and New York Jets."

That's up there with "'Barbie' will flop" as one of the worst takes of 2023.

As Howell mused in the NFLPA's statement, the NFL stadiums selected to host World Cup games in 2026 will temporarily swap out their artificial surfaces for grass fields.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the host nation even imported American grass for its stadiums, so it isn't difficult to find.

NFL owners have balked at the extra cost of maintaining grass surfaces for an entire season, not to mention the surface's ability to withstand frigid temperatures at some locations later in the year.

It's doable, though, and it's absurd for billionaires to skimp out on such a vital area as the playing surface.

"While we know there is an investment to making this change, there is a bigger cost to everyone in our business if we keep losing our best players to unnecessary injuries," wrote Howell.

Players are nearly unanimous in their desire for the league to switch to grass, and those calls will grow louder due to Rodgers' injury.

In April, NFLPA president JC Tretter pointed to data that revealed — outside of the 2021 season — grass was much safer in 10 of the past 11 seasons.

Making the switch is common sense, but for a league that's always slow to react, getting natural surfaces at the 30 NFL stadiums will be like pulling teeth.