David Bakhtiari believes artificial turf makes football worse, risks injury

Green Bay Packers offensive lineman David Bakhtiari isn’t holding anything back against the NFL this week after he saw his former quarterback Aaron Rodgers go down with a torn Achilles on Monday Night Football.

Bakhtiari joined the Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday to discuss why he believes the league’s obsession with artificial turf is negatively impacting not only the players but the overall product of the NFL.

“I think it’s an ongoing conversation, it’s one that the owners don’t want to have,” Bakhtiari said. “Why would you even want to wait (for new collective bargaining agreement)? This is for the betterment of everything for the game. You’re making the game worse. You’re jeopardizing all players, but even of that, the upper echelon of what people want to see, I put Aaron in there.”

“The quality of the game goes down when you don’t have your elite players out there,” he added. “So why not do what you can? Lionel Messi, any surfaces he goes on to, they’re going to bring out fresh grass. He’s that amazing. People want to go see greatness.”

To Bakhtiari’s point, the game of professional football is already so violent as it is, he wants to see owners take the steps to limit the risks to player safety as much as possible. His views aren’t new or revolutionary either.

NFLPA pushing back against NFL owners on turf issue

NFLPA president JC Tretter had a scathing review of the NFL ownership following the release of the 2022 injury data. Tretter exposed the increased rate of injuries to players playing on turf versus grass in 10 of the past 11 years and called out owners who deny the increased risks to player safety.

The NFLPA has been pushing back on NFL ownership for several years now to get the league’s leadership to open their eyes to the increased risk of injuries to players on turf fields versus grass. So far, it hasn’t made a difference.

On an episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, the team dove into the 2022 injury data, not just from the pros, but also at the high school level. Their expert on the matter was Dr. Timothy Kremchek, the Cincinnati Reds team physician since 1996. He said he “absolutely” sees a difference in the injury rates.

“I see an epidemic of injuries of young, strong, healthy kids that are getting hurt that are risking not only their careers, but their limbs,” Kremchek said.

The data from the NFL has led to similar conclusions from the NFLPA. However, according to sources who spoke to ProFootballTalk, it’s not opening the eyes of the NFL owners yet.

Turf might be cheaper and easier to maintain. However, it doesn’t provide the same amount of give as a grass field. That is where the issues arise.

“What happens is the foot hits the ground, and when the body is gonna change direction, the foot stays planted, and it gets stuck,” Kremchek said. “And as the body starts to turn, all the stresses go from the foot, the ankle, and then up to the knee. And as the knee turns, boom.”