Von Miller’s desire to eliminate artificial turf is personal

Von Miller’s desire to eliminate artificial fields is personal.

The three-time All-Pro edge rusher tore his right ACL while playing on an artificial surface during Buffalo’s game at Detroit last Thanksgiving.

“This game was built on grass. Grass is safer. It’s getting better,” Miller said on the AP Pro Football Podcast. “I’ve been injured twice on artificial turf, so I know what it does to fingers, toes, back.”

Miller, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and Green Bay Packers offensive lineman David Bakhtiari are part of Pennington’s ‘Flip the Turf’ campaign, urging players and fans to sign a Change petition .org calling for all 16 stadiums to use artificial turf to change to grass.

The NFL Players Association has long urged all teams to move to grass pitches. In April, the Players Union released studies from 2012-22 that show a significant increase in non-contact injuries on artificial surfaces compared to grass pitches.

The NFL, in defense of artificial turf, pointed to 2021 when injury counts on both surfaces were close.

“Last year, the gap – much like the NFL’s credibility with players on this issue – was as wide as it has ever been, proving that (as the NFLPA suspected) 2021 was in fact an outlier,” NFLPA President JC Tretter said. essay on the union’s website. “Now 10 of the previous 11 years show exactly the same thing – grass is a significantly safer surface than turf.”

The league says it’s a complicated question.

“The NFL and the NFLPA have access to the same injury information, which is collected by independent experts and shared at Joint Field Surface Safety and Performance Committee meetings mandated by the CBA,” Jeffrey said. Miller, NFL manager, in April. “The committee, including NFLPA experts, believes that simply playing on natural turf is not the answer to this complex challenge. Some artificial turf surfaces have a lower injury rate than some turf fields. – and some grass fields have a lower injury rate than some artificial surfaces.

“Our goal is to reduce injuries on all surfaces. There are no simple answers, but we are committed to substantial and ongoing work with players and their expert advisors to make gaming safer.

A big problem is money. It is expensive to change artificial grass fields to natural grass. It becomes more expensive to maintain the turf if a stadium hosts other events that may ruin it. Putting natural grass in domed stadiums is even more expensive.

“Honestly, when it comes to player safety, if I own a football and have a football team and my stadium is built around football players, I would want to have the best surface for those guys,” Miller said. “My football team should always come before my Monster Jam or my concerts or boxing matches.”

Miller is allergic to weed, but prefers dealing with sneezing and hives to play on the softer, more forgiving natural surface.

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