There were a couple of non-contact knee injuries at SoFi Stadium during last Sunday’s game between the Seahawks and Chargers.
While Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf appears to have avoided a severe injury, Chargers cornerback J.C. Jackson is out for the year with a ruptured patellar tendon and Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said this week that the league should be looking at the difference in safety for players playing on turf fields, like the one at SoFi, and grass fields.
Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp also plays his home games at SoFi Stadium and he was asked about the playing surface during a Thursday media session.
“It’s not even close,” Kupp said, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com. “I know there’s stuff going around the league right now, there’s some issues. Hands down, we should be playing on grass. Hands down, we should be on grass. And that’s all I’m going to say.”
Kupp’s comments echo NFLPA president JC Tretter’s belief that all games should be played on grass. They aren’t the first to raise the issue, but fourteen of the league’s stadiums currently use artificial surfaces and there does not appear to be much of a move to push things in the other direction.