The artificial turf at Metlife Stadium has earned a terrible reputation for the large number of NFL players who have broken on it.
Since the start of the 2020 season, at least 15 players have suffered anterior cruciate ligament or Achilles tendon injuries playing at MetLife. These injuries almost always spell the end of their season.
- Nick Bosa (2020) – Torn ACL
- Solomon Thomas (2020) – Torn anterior cruciate ligament
- Blake Martinez (2021) – Torn anterior cruciate ligament
- Jabrill Peppers (2021) – Torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
- James Robinson (2021) – Torn Achilles
- TJ Brunson (2021) – Torn anterior cruciate ligament
- Ja’Wuan James (2022) – Torn Achilles
- Kyle Fuller (2022) – Torn ACL
- Sterling Shepard (2022) – Torn anterior cruciate ligament
- Wan’Dale Robinson (2022) – Torn ACL
- Dawuane Smoot (2022) – Torn Achilles
- Darrian Beavers (2022) – Torn anterior cruciate ligament
- Aaron Rodgers (2023) – Ruptured Achilles tendon
- Jaelan Phillips (2023) – Torn Achilles
- Malik Nabers (2025) – Torn ACL
The NFL doesn’t see any problem
Dawn Aponte, the NFL’s chief football administrative officer, again defended that artificial turf does not influence players’ injuries“Today we talked about surfaces. We talked about a lot of the ongoing efforts, the focus on greater consistency, gameplay optimization and injury risk reduction,” Aponte said.
He later stated: “What we’ve seen so far is not a significant difference in terms of injury rates on grass versus synthetic, both domestically and internationally.”
“What we’ve seen so far is not a significant difference in terms of injury rates on turf versus synthetic, both nationally and internationally.”
FIFA does not agree
FIFA has already confirmed that the 2026 World Cup final will be played at MetLife Stadium and according to its rules it will be played on natural grass.
We already saw the change of surface in the Club World Cup final, where Chelsea were crowned champions. However, that natural grass did not last long and when the Giants and Jets started the NFL preseason, the stadium had already returned to artificial turf
Taking into account that the stadium will host eight matches of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA could break the Metlife Stadium curse and finally give Metlife a natural grass pitch for life.
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