NFLPA President JC Tretter Wants NFL Using All Grass Fields to Lower Injury Risk

Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter is calling for the NFL to use natural grass surfaces at every stadium to lower the injury risk for players.

Tretter, who is the president of the NFL Players Association, made his case on the union's official site:

"The data supports the anecdotes you'll hear from me and other players: artificial turf is significantly harder on the body than grass. Based on NFL injury data collected from 2012 to 2018, not only was the contact injury rate for lower extremities higher during practices and games held on artificial turf, NFL players consistently experienced a much higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries on turf compared to natural surfaces. Specifically, players have a 28 percent higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries when playing on artificial turf. Of those non-contact injuries, players have a 32 percent higher rate of non-contact knee injuries on turf and a staggering 69 percent higher rate of non-contact foot/ankle injuries on turf compared to grass."

Tretter argued that every franchise should theoretically be able to maintain a natural grass field. The Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers have natural grass in colder climates. Meanwhile, the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders have configured their stadiums so they can keep their playing surface in top condition despite having a retractable roof and dome, respectively.

Tretter's open letter comes after some members of the San Francisco 49ers raised concerns about the state of the MetLife Stadium FieldTurf.

The Niners had multiple players injured in their Week 2 victory over the New York Jets.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after the game that it was "as many knee injuries and ankle stuff and people getting caught on the turf that I've ever been a part of."

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said MetLife Stadium had passed all of the necessary benchmarks in terms of its playing surface. Representatives from the NFL and NFLPA and an independent inspector evaluated the turf after the fact and again said it was up to code before the Niners had to play the New York Giants back at MetLife last Sunday.

Tretter addressed the evaluation process, writing that playing fields are subjected to the Clegg test to measure hardness. He contended the Clegg test is "extremely limited in its ability to tell us about the performance or safety of a field and is not nearly as comprehensive for what the modern game requires."

ESPN's Jake Trotter noted 13 NFL stadiums out of 32 use an artificial surface.