Malik Nabers tore his ACL on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, ending his season and joining a growing list of players who have suffered major ACL or Achilles injuries at the stadium in recent years.
On Monday, NFLPA interim executive director David White met with the Giants and raised concerns with the playing surface, per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports:
Nabers’ injury had former New York Giants’ wideout Odell Beckham Jr. publicly calling on the NFL to step in and address the turf issue at MetLife Stadium:
MetLife Stadium switched to FieldTurf Core HD in 2023 after years of using UBU Speed S5-M turf. While that was supposed to be an upgrade, injuries on the surface at the stadium have persisted.
In a 2023 survey by The Athletic, 83 percent of players polled said that playing on turf rather than grass was a legitimate concern.
“You wake up in the morning feeling 10 times better after you played on grass compared to when you played on turf,” one player said.
“You feel like s–t,” a lineman added. “Especially being a big guy, running on turf, your knees hurt. When you fall and trip, you don’t want to get up. You feel it the next day a lot.”
For indoor stadiums, a grass field can present complications. But MetLife Stadium is an outdoor venue, and while there are other considerations—cost, the durability of turf compared to grass, especially when a stadium is shared by teams or hosts a number of concerts and other events—it’s never a great sign when your playing surface becomes a persistent storyline.
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