Julian Edelman rips NFL for turf fields
Former Super Bowl MVP and NFL fan favorite Julian Edelman has joined the discourse surrounding grass and turf fields. Safe to say, Edelman is agreeing with the rest of the former players — he is not a big fan of the turf fields.
“I tore my ACL on a shitty turf in Detroit which was absolutely ridiculous,” Edelman said in an appearance on No Chill with Gilbert Arenas on Fubo Sports, via PFT.com. “I broke my foot on a shitty turf field in New York. This is a multi-billion dollar corporation and we can’t get grass?”
Julian Edelman would go onto explain the difference between the two fields and why players unanimously like grass more.
“With turf there is nowhere for the energy to disperse,” Edelman said, via PFT.com. “So, when you cut, everything is going straight into your knee and ankle. When you’re a younger player its awesome because you can cheat a cut. You can cut off your inside foot and still make the cut, whereas on grass you’ll slip. But there is no give. When you get to about 27 or 28, you go out and you have to practice on a turf field and your back locks up, your knees get hurt for the next three days, your ankles are sore for three days. There’s just nowhere for the energy to go, but through your body. And these are full grown men who are cutting on this.”
Now, you may be wondering why the NFL won’t switch to grass if the players like it more and it causes fewer injuries?
“It’s money,” Edelman said, via PFT.com. “You can put a turf field in that $1.5 million for the year. If you have grass, you have to water it, upkeep it, redo it. There is a lot of maintenance. You have to have a field crew that is always on. We’re counting pennies when it comes to what they are actually making and you would think that the league would want to protect their investments in the players. The horses that race in the race, you’ve got to take care of the horse.”
Although the NFL doesn’t change their crappy turf fields, they change kickoff rules to help player safety. Classy, real classy NFL. How about you change the fields to reduce injuries, so you cannot only make the players happy, but see the star players on the field more — which means more money for the league.
“It’s kind of a bullshit rule that they put in with the whole [kickoff] fair catch thing because it’s a scapegoat,” Edelman said, via PFT.com. “We talk about player safety but we don’t have mandatory grass, which is absolute bullshit. Guys are tearing their shit . . . feet, ankles, knees, non-contact [injuries] all the time because of these turfs and we haven’t changed that.”
The crazy thing about this whole idea of changing the field is that the NFL instantly changed to grass to lure a FIFA World Cup event.
“It’s crazy,” Edelman said, via PFT.com. “Whenever there is an international soccer game, if you have a turf stadium they will bring in grass for the international teams to play because they have a rule for their players that they have to play on grass. But we can’t do it for our league and our investment in players.”
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