Former Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth was one of a handful of big names recently to speak out against turf playing surfaces.
Buy Bengals TicketsDuring Amazon Prime Video’s “TNF Nightcap,” Whitworth followed up player-safety commentary from Richard Sherman with a long thought on the subject.
“If you think about it, isn’t it just the inconsistency that every single turf is different?” Whitworth said, per the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Dave Clark. “I mean you’re already saying that we’re not on the same page because how as a league do you know what’s good turf if every one of your stadiums has different kinds of turf. So, y’all can’t even agree on what the right kind of turf to put on the ground is. So to me you’d at least want to see – if you’re gonna use turf, there’s one uniform turf that we are saying is healthy and it’s safer and whatever. But I don’t think that’s gonna happen. … I don’t know if there’s really a great answer other than we all know players who play the game like to play on grass. I feel like that’s a pretty good argument.”
The Bengals use a slit-film turf surface similar to those found at five other locales throughout the league. There is a debate as to whether there is a notable difference in lower-body injuries based on the different types of surfaces.
As Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic pointed out, a Bengals defender is also adamant on this topic:
Bengals safety Mike Thomas, fellow NFLPA exec committee member, talked about this on HTPG this week. Said he hopes it's close and consistent playing surfaces across the NFL are necessary.
Hard to argue. Should be either grass or the agreed-upon best turf option. https://t.co/6ysK28WGd4
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) November 11, 2022
It seems agreeable that there should be a consensus best turf then applied to all stadiums for consistency’s sake, but it indeed feels like a battle that’s only just getting started.
