Robert Kraft’s stance on the Patriots’ field is becoming a familiar source of frustration for players, especially after a summer that briefly gave them exactly what they’ve been asking for: grass.
When the United States hosted the FIFA World Cup at NFL stadiums, including Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, every venue involved swapped out its artificial surface for real grass, as is standard for professional soccer. That move reignited a long-running debate inside the league, with plenty of NFL players pointing to grass as the safer, better playing surface and urging owners to make the change permanent.
Patriots players joined that conversation, too, making it clear they preferred grass to turf. There was hope Kraft would take that message seriously. Instead, the latest update on Gillette Stadium’s field suggests the opposite.
Ahead of their first preseason game this week against the Colts, the Patriots are now scrambling to fix a field the NFL has already ruled “noncompliant.” The team has to replace the entire surface and get it back within the league’s guidelines before Thursday’s game.
That kind of last-minute repair hardly signals a looming shift to grass. If anything, it reinforces Kraft’s reluctance to make a permanent change, even with players pushing hard and pointing to injury concerns as part of their case.
The timing mattered, too. Because the World Cup came early enough in the summer, there was a real opening to leave grass in place and keep it there.
The players, along with the NFLPA, made their point loudly about why they believe the switch should stick. So far, though, no team has carried that argument into the season by keeping grass down.
For the Patriots, that chance has slipped away. Kraft could have used this moment to set a different example and show he was willing to listen to his players on an issue that directly affects them. Instead, the team is racing to meet the NFL’s standard for game-ready turf and hoping the work gets done before kickoff against Indianapolis.
It’s not a situation New England needs. Field problems have disrupted preseason games before, with contests getting canceled or rescheduled in past years, and the Patriots would surely prefer not to add another layer of mess to an offseason that already carried plenty of it.
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