It’s the NFL debate that never goes away.
Grass vs. turf? With the league adopting new playing field standards and seven of its 30 venues pulling up turf to install grass for 2026 World Cup matches, the NFL and its players are still working to find common ground between the end zones.
“Grass is the natural thing. Turf is the unnatural thing,” Dion Dawkins, the All-Pro left tackle for the Buffalo Bills, told USA TODAY Sports. “If you’re playing on grass, there’s a give. It’s a softer bottom. Like there’s dirt, there’s soil, there’s bugs. It’s just a real, live thing.
“Turf, you can scrape yourself and the turf burn is like rubbing your arm on sandpaper. Us big guys, we can plant in the turf to hold defenders back, but sometimes your feet get caught in a little seam. Grass doesn’t do that. Grass will rip up.”
Go ahead, preach this sermon. Exactly half of the NFL’s 30 venues have playing surfaces with all-natural or hybrid grass while the other half roll with synthetic turf.
