NFL players care about a ban on turf above all other safety issues

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

On March 25, NFL owners banned the swivel hip-drop tackle.

“We have an obligation from a health and safety standpoint to protect players when there’s unreasonable risk of injury,” competition committee chairman Rick Mckay said, via CNN.

The NFLPA announced its strong opposition to the new tackle ban five days before the owners even voted to pass it.

Once it was official, current and former players took to the internet to voice their displeasure.

Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland had similar feelings.

On the same day that owners unanimously voted to pass the new ban at their annual owner’s meetings, Giant’s President and CEO John Mara confirmed MetLife stadium would switch to grass for the World Cup in the summer of 2026 – and then switch right back to turf for the NFL season.

No safety issue has united NFL players more than the turf vs. grass debate. In a recent NFLPA poll, 92% of players said they want grass fields. They speak out about it again, and again and again.

Over the last 20 seasons, the NFL has made more than 50 player safety rule changes. Many have been small, like “the restraining line for the kicking team is moved from the 30 to the 35-yard line in an effort to increase touchbacks” (2011).

Some have been bigger like the 2005 move to ban the horse collar tackle after Cowboys safety Roy Williams injured four different players with it during the 2004 season.

More recently, with major items like chop blocks (2016), tackling with the crown of the helmet (2013), and return wedges (2009) gone from the game, the league has been doing more tweaking and refining, such as shaving five minutes off OT (2017), re-defining illegal uses of the helmet (2018, ’19 ’20 ’23) and changing the kickoff (every single year it feels like).

Constant rule changes would be frustrating for employees in any business. But they are especially irksome for NFL players when the rules don’t feel clear and it costs serious money to break them.

The player’s recent response is a protest and a warning. They will not continually accept more “rule tweaks” when the one safety issue they consistently ask for is answered with a bunch of “we don’t know,” and “the data isn’t clear,” or, from the commissioner, “some players actually prefer turf.”

Global soccer has created an opening. The night before he voted for the new tackle ban, Jerry Jones had a grass field in Cowboy stadium for the CONCACAF Nations League Final. John Mara and the Giants have proven they can get grass into MetLife Stadium. Grass vs. turf is about money, not feasibility.

49ers owner Jed York was correct when he said you can’t and “don’t dismiss owners.”

The players know that.

But they can and are building a level of public pressure that could get so uncomfortable and consuming that it becomes easier for owners to give in to all grass than to keep fighting it.

This is but one small skirmish in a larger battle to come. As a famous world leader who knew a thing or two about fighting once said, “It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

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