George Kittle has never been shy about taking on the turf debate, and he sharpened that argument again on “Chris Simms Unbuttoned” as the San Francisco 49ers headed into training camp.
The 49ers tight end said the difference shows up immediately in how his body feels after games on artificial surfaces. “What I've learned from turf is that I am significantly more sore the day after,” Kittle said.
“Your feet, your ankles, your knees, your hips - everything's just more sore, and it takes you a couple more days to bounce back.” He contrasted that with grass, where the contact still leaves a mark but the joint stiffness is not as severe.
“You don't have that ankle stiffness, those knees, the hips. I've been feeling that since I was a rookie.”
Kittle said that view is widely shared around the league. “I would say 90-plus percent of players that I talk to are like, 'Oh, dude, give me grass every single day of the week.'”
He is far from the only player pushing for more natural surfaces. Several other notable NFL players have publicly called for grass at NFL stadiums, especially after the World Cup required NFL venues to switch to grass for soccer matches this summer.
For Kittle, the issue comes back to what he sees as the league’s priorities. He pointed to the money being spent on stadiums while players are still asked to perform on surfaces he believes are less safe.
“You're building all these new stadiums with all this beautiful technology - $100 million stadiums. Like, why can't you just put in a way to use grass?”
Kittle said. “At the core of it, you're making most of your money off of players playing on your grass.
So let's make a good surface.”
If a full move to grass is off the table, Kittle said he would at least want more uniformity across turf fields.
“Every turf field I play on is different. I go to New England, it's different than Seattle.
Seattle's different than Cincinnati,” he said. “Can we at least just have one turf, so you know what you're getting yourself into when you play on a turf field?”
He also tied the conversation directly to injuries, pointing to his own ankle injury from the week before he tore his Achilles. “Injuries do happen, but they happen less on the grass field,” he said, adding that head injuries are part of the concern too: “If you get a concussion on the turf, you see guys' heads just go bounce on it like a basketball. You see that significantly less on a grass field.”
Whether the league acts on that push is another matter. With Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations not coming until 2031, players are left making the case now and waiting for real change later.
In Other News...
49ers Suddenly Face A Brutal Question About One Young Running Back
Isaac Guerendo was supposed to be part of the 49ers long-term answer at running back after a promising rookie year, but a recent roster projection has put his future in a far different light. Drafted in the fourth round in 2024, Guerendo flashed enough as a first-year player to look like a useful piece in San Franciscos backfield, only to see his role disappear in 2025, when he appeared in 14 games without recording an offensive touch.
The bigger concern now is what comes next, because the projection has the 49ers carrying a different mix in the backfield and treating Guerendo as the odd man out. Between his injury last season and the rise of Jordan James, the path back onto the roster has gotten much narrower, and for a young player who seemed to have momentum not long ago, that is a sharp turn in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
49ers May Have Found Unexpected Help For A Major Defensive Need
The 49ers spent much of the 2025 season trying to patch up a run defense that too often gave ground in the middle, even after adding help to the interior. That makes every fresh body at defensive tackle worth watching, especially when the player arrives with a reputation for doing the dirty work against the run.
One of the more interesting additions is former Illinois tackle James Thompson Jr., whose calling card is stopping the run and who now gets a real shot to push for a place in training camp. The path is still narrow, though, because he will need to show more as an interior pass rusher if he wants to turn that opening into a spot on the 53-man roster. [Read more 🡒]
George Kittle Just Added More Tension To The 49ers Aiyuk Drama
Brandon Aiyuks social-media frustration with the 49ers has been lingering in the background for a while, and George Kittle did little to cool it off when he was asked about the situation. Kittle backed the organizations handling of the matter and framed the whole thing as part of the messy reality of contract talks, which is hardly a surprise in a league where even productive players can find themselves stuck in a prolonged standoff.
The uncomfortable part for San Francisco is how much this saga circles back to timing. The 49ers had earlier chances to lock Aiyuk in at a lower price before the market moved, and now the discussion is less about whether the relationship has been strained than how much farther it can stretch. Aiyuks latest post about Christian McCaffrey only added another layer to a situation that already feels like it is waiting for the next public reaction. [Read more 🡒]