Check Athleticism’s Anonymous 2023 NFL Player Poll with honest opinions on the grass versus grass debate, the best and worst stadiums to play in, referees and much more.
It is clear how NFL players feel the ongoing debate between turf and turf within the league, with nearly 83 percent of players responding AthleticismThe 2023 player survey indicates this is a real concern. This topic was one of many AthleticismThe beat writers surveyed 85 gamers over the past month.
Some stakeholders (12.3 percent of respondents) said the issue was overblown, while nearly 5 percent said they were “in the middle” on whether the debate was actually concerning or overblown.
“You wake up in the morning feeling 10 times better after playing on grass than when you played on grass,” one player said.
Another player added: “I talked about it. I think our locker room is pretty unified on that. It sucks, and there is enough money to eliminate it. It’s time.”
Some say they can feel the difference not only after games but before the first snap is taken.
“Even warming up on the Minnesota turf field hurt my knees,” one player said.
“You feel like shit,” one lineman added. “Especially being a big guy, running on grass, your knees hurt. When you fall and stumble, you don’t want to get up. We feel it a lot the next day.
Several recent studies show that turf causes more lower-body injuries than natural turf, and the NFLPA found this research important. The NFL and NFLPA share the same injury information and a CBA-mandated committee on field surface safety and performance, but the NFL has not taken a hardline stance on the data available to the NFLPA and pointed out that some grass pitches have a lower level. injury rates than some turf fields.
NFL owners attending fall league meetings in New York said the debate was not as clear-cut as the NFLPA claimed.
“We don’t think we can have quality natural grass in our stadium” Dallas Cowboys Executive Vice President Stephen Jones said last month about AT&T Stadium. “If you have indoor stadiums, it’s very difficult if you don’t plan ahead, like a Arizona They did it to roll up the grass. And then sometimes they get criticized for the condition of the field because it’s not growing as well as if they were growing it full time there. There are a lot of moving parts.
Each player interviewed was asked the same set of questions, although not every player answered them all. They were granted anonymity to candidly give their opinions on some of the league’s most important topics.
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