Several NFL stars have voiced their concern over the safety of turf fields and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is joining in, even calling out the NFL.
Though there was some talk last season, the heat has been turned up in the NFL with players speaking out about field conditions. Specifically, players have recently begun expressing serious concern over playing so many games on artificial turf surfaces and the high number of non-contact injuries have been occurring on such fields.
Patrick Mahomes was one notable voice who echoed the sentiments of other stars, namely Rams receiver Cooper Kupp and 49ers tight end George Kittle, after they expressed their displeasure on Twitter.
Now Green Bay Packers quarterback and the league’s back-to-back MVP has joined the group speaking out about turf.
On Tuesday, Rodgers said, “As much as I’ve enjoyed playing indoors over the years on turf, I do think it’s time to play on grass. I think you’d see less of these noncontact injuries.”
Aaron Rodgers says turf will force NFL to put ‘money where your mouth is’ on player safety
Rodgers wasn’t done there, though. He also called out the NFL on the issue, stating that the league would now be in a position to put up the money to show that it’s serious about player safety.
When players of Rodgers and Mahomes’ caliber start getting involved on such an issue, you usually start to see some sort of movement on the part of the league. And it fells as if we’re trending that way with the grass vs turf issue now.
These comments come on the heels of the NFLPA asked for “Immediate Replacement and Ban of all Slit Film Turf”, a specific type of artificial surface that has been used and seemingly increases the risk for injuries.
This is clearly not an issue that’s going away any time soon, especially with someone such as Rodgers now joining in.