Roger Goodell on Artificial Turf-Grass Debate: ‘I Want Our Experts to Come Back and Give It to Us’

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, during an appearance on ESPN's First Take on Wednesday morning, said the league will be dictated by science when it comes to choosing between artificial turf and natural grass.

"That's how we make decisions, not because I see an injury that I don't like," Goodell said. "Ultimately, I want our experts to come back and give it to us."

On Monday, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, while playing at MetLife Stadium (which utilizes artificial turf), suffered a torn left Achilles tendon against the Buffalo Bills. That prompted a wave of backlash against the use of the surface for NFL games, including from Rodgers' former teammate and Green Bay Packers offensive tackle David Bahkitiari and NFLPA Executive Director Lloyd Howell.

Bahkitiari, in an X post shortly after Rodgers went down, said, "That injury is TURF related. Can we put an end to this sh-- already."

Lowell, in a statement the union released on Wednesday morning, said that "Moving all stadium fields to high quality natural grass surfaces is the easiest decision the NFL can make."

Jets head coach Robert Saleh on the other hand, told reporters on Tuesday that given it was a contact injury, he was unsure about the role the turf played in Rodgers tearing his Achilles. He noted, however, that "the players prefer grass and there's a lot invested in those young men."

In all, 14 NFL stadiums utilize artificial turf, but seven venues — MetLife Stadium, SoFi Stadium, AT&T Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Lumen Field, NRG Stadium, and Gillette Stadium — will switch to natural grass for the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup.

That was another point of frustration for Bahktiari and Howell, with the latter saying "It makes no sense that stadiums can flip over to superior grass surfaces when the World Cup comes, or soccer clubs come to visit for exhibition games in the summer, but inferior artificial surfaces are acceptable for our own players."

On Tuesday, NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Miller said on a conference call that since 2015, the rates of Achilles tendon injuries on artificial turf and natural grass fields do not differ, but that the league and players' union will continue to research any disparities.

However, JC Tretter, the NFLPA's President, wrote a letter in April arguing the contrary. Using data from as far back as 2012, Tretter outlined that, in general, "injury rates on synthetic surfaces were far higher than on natural surfaces."