Earlier this year, the Tennessee Titans announced a transition from grass to artificial turf at Nissan Stadium starting this season.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Ryan Tannehill expressed some aversion to the change.
“I don’t love it. I’ve always enjoyed playing on grass more than turf,” Tannehill said (h/t Paul Kuharsky and Pro Football Talk). “It’s just easier on your body, your joints, your skin as you’re on the ground. But that’s where we’re at, right? We’ve played a lot of games on turf. We’re going to play a lot more games on turf now.
“I don’t think it affects the quality of the game or anything. But it definitely affects how you feel the next day.”
Ryan Tannehill on @NissanStadium and @Titans shift to artificial turf. pic.twitter.com/39sL8bLHOe
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) May 3, 2023
When revealing the shift in January, the Titans called it “nearly impossible” to maintain a consistent grass surface in a transition climate area. They said they will become the first team to incorporate organic infill in their synthetic turf.
“Ultimately we’ve landed on the decision, based on that data, to transition to a monofilament surface with an organic infill that mimics the natural feel of grass while getting the consistency and durability of field turf,” Titans president and CEO Burke Nihill said.
Last month, NFLPA president J.C. Tretter advocated for the NFL to use natural grass on all fields. The offensive lineman shared data from an independent firm that found significantly higher injury rates on turf than grass in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
He also called out the Titans as an instance of the league ignoring safety trends because the 2021 season didn’t show a noticeable difference between injuries on grass and turf.
“Instead of following the long-term data (which is clear on this issue), listening to players and making the game safer, the NFL used an outlier year to engage in a PR campaign to convince everyone that the problem doesn’t actually exist,” Tretter wrote. “For example, the Tennessee Titans recently announced that they will be changing from a grass field to turf, citing that they believe the change will make the field safer.”