Sam LaPorta has thrown his support behind the push to get NFL teams off artificial turf and onto natural grass, and he did it in a way that hits close to home for the Detroit Lions.
On Friday, the Lions tight end shared an NFLPA post with the hashtag #WorthTheCost, echoing the union’s long-running argument that grass should replace turf across the league. LaPorta’s stance carries extra weight because of what happened to him as a rookie, when he suffered a knee injury in the regular season finale after it appeared his foot got stuck in the Ford Field turf.
The NFL Players' Association has been pressing that case hard, especially with the FIFA World Cup being hosted in North America. FIFA installed natural grass at the stadiums used for the tournament, which has only sharpened the conversation around the 16 NFL teams that still play on artificial surfaces.
Ahead of the World Cup, the NFLPA laid out its position and pointed to player sentiment in a study it says included 1,700 players. The union said 92 percent of those players want the league to move to grass.
“I think one thing is understanding what our players care about, and there is something there that the data hasn’t been able to spit back out at us," NFLPA executive director J.C. Tretter said during an interview in May.
"We polled 1,700 players, 92 percent say they want grass over turf. There is something about the feeling of being on grass, your body feels different.
I think if you ask the coaches, just standing on grass versus standing on turf for three hours feels different. There is something there that impacts the body.”
Detroit is among the teams still using artificial turf, and the Lions most recently switched from a slit-film surface to a monofilment version before the 2023 season, a change viewed as a safer option.
Because Ford Field is indoors, keeping natural grass in place would be a tougher task. Still, the NFL does have two dome teams playing on grass already: the Las Vegas Raiders and the Arizona Cardinals.
LaPorta is now entering the final year of his rookie contract, and he has already become a central piece of Detroit’s offense. The second-round pick in the 2023 Draft set the NFL record for receptions by a rookie tight end in his first season.
Through three seasons, LaPorta has totaled 186 catches, 2,104 yards and 20 touchdowns.
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