Aaron Rodgers' ex-teammate calls out Roger Goodell for using turf fields - "I’m sick of this.. Do better!"
Aaron Rodgers’ ankle injury has New York Jets fans on a roller coaster of emotions. What started as a promising season is suddenly up in smoke after Rodgers left their season opener after four snaps. Leonard Floyd’s sack forced the four-time NFL MVP to stay down on the field after initially getting up.
After an initial assessment of the medical tent, Rodgers was carted off the field. Further X-rays showed negative results, but he was questionable to return in their Week 1 game versus the Buffalo Bills. Rodgers’ fate had one of his former teammates furious with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
David Bakhtiari called out Roger Goodell about Aaron Rodgers’ injury on artificial turf
Green Bay Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari addressed Goodell regarding artificial turf usage in the NFL. The five-time All-Pro offensive lineman tweeted:
“Congrats @nfl. How many more players have to get hurt on ARTIFICIAL TURF??! You care more about soccer players than us. You plan to remove all artificial turf for the World Cup coming up. So clearly, it’s feasible. I’m sick of this..Do better!”
Bakhtiari has protected Aaron Rodgers’ blind side since the Packers selected him in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. A decade later, the Packers traded Rodgers to the New York Jets one day before the 2023 draft started.
They’ve led the Packers to seven playoff appearances and four NFC Championship Games as teammates. However, Bakhtiari suffered an ACL injury in December 2020, forcing him to miss that season’s playoffs. Without him, the Packers lost to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC title game.
He only played one game in 2021 and had a third surgery on his injured knee last year. Bakhtiari suited up during the Packers’ 2023 season-opening victory against the Chicago Bears.
Bakhtiari and NFL players like George Kittle, Bryan Breese, and Will Levis are part of Pennington Seed Inc.'s "Flip The Turf" campaign. It calls for the end of using artificial turf in favor of natural grass.
MetLife Stadium’s notorious injury history
After Aaron Rodgers’ ankle injury in his first game with the Jets, SportsGrid and The Ringer’s Warren Sharp tweeted:
“just going to leave this here ‘The Injury Capital of the NFL’ aka MetLife they just installed a “new turf” that was supposedly safer, but…”
His post also contained screenshots of news articles that put MetLife Stadium’s football turf in bad light. Two headlines feature the NFL Players Association criticizing Metlife’s turf and sharing the field’s safety issues following a study.
In response, the New York Jets and the New York Giants agreed to install a new playing surface called FieldTurf Core. But after Aaron Rodgers’ fate, the new surface’s safety will be again questioned.
Before Rodgers suited up for the Jets, Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas suffered season-ending knee injuries in 2020. Baltimore Ravens cornerback Kyle Fuller sustained an ACL tear in Week 1 of 2022 against the Jets.