NFLPA president blasts NFL, releases revealing injury data

The grass vs. turf debate has long been discussed amongst NFL players and the chatter has seemed to increase in recent years, with scores of devastating injuries occurring on artificial turf fields.

Some of the high-profile players to speak out against artificial turf last year included Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver Cooper Kupp and San Francisco 49ers stud defensive end Nick Bosa.

NFLPA president J.C. Tretter posted an essay on Wednesday, noting that despite the 2021 "outlier," the injury rate on grass surfaces was lower from 2012-2020.

"Instead of following the long-term data (which is clear on this issue), listening to players and making the game safer," Tretter wrote, "the NFL used an outlier year to engage in a PR campaign to convince everyone that the problem doesn't actually exist."

The former offensive lineman continued that "the gap -- much like the NFL's credibility with players on this issue -- was as wide as it has ever been" in 2022, "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."

According to ESPN's Kevin Seifert's report, NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy Jeff Miller said in a statement released Thursday that "there are no simple answers" regarding the topic. 

Miller added that the NFL and 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."

"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 artificial surfaces."

Miller concluded that the league's goal is to "decrease injuries on all surfaces" and they are "committed to the substantial, ongoing work with the players and their expert advisors to make the game safer."

The committee referenced by Miller is a third-party company called IQIVA, which is used to "compile and analyze injury data."