MINNETONKA, Minn. — An MRI on Tuesday morning confirmed that Aaron Rodgers suffered a complete tear of his left Achilles tendon, coach Robert Saleh announced Tuesday. Rodgers' season is done after just the fourth snap of his Jets' career.
Within minutes of Rodgers' injury, people pointed blame at the artificial turf at MetLife Stadium, including one of his former teammates. Green Bay Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari criticized the NFL for using turf, calling on the league to bring back grass to all of the fields.
"Congrats @nfl," Bakhtiari wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "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!"
Minnesota native and Super Bowl champion, Beau Allen agrees.
"I don't think I have ever heard of any players that are adamantly supporting artificial turf," Allen said.
Allen says he doesn't get vocal towards the league about many things, but he hopes the NFL doesn't ignore these concerns for safety.
"It just feels different. It's harder on your joints. The artificial turf kind of catches and it feels stickier at times," Allen said.
Rodgers hasn't been shy about his dislike of artificial turf in the past. In 2022, he echoed calls for the league to do away with artificial turf.
“I do think it’s time to go all grass throughout the league,” he said. “It’s about cost. I don’t know how much that would cost. ... But the league’s been doing pretty well.”
Even at the time, Rodgers acknowledged that the ask was unlikely.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence when it comes to the league making that decision without some sort of big vote and gripes from certain owners who don’t want to spend the money," he said. "This would be putting your money where your mouth is if player safety is important.”
The NFL maintains that injury rates are approximately equal on grass and turf fields.
In Minnesota, the Minnesota State High School League says turf fields are becoming the norm. A decade ago, there were about 10 fields with artificial turf, and now they say there's about 200 statewide.
Watch more coverage of Minnesota sports:
Watch the latest reports from the KARE 11 sports team in our YouTube playlist: