New York Giants Star Just Blew Up The Grass Vs. Turf Debate
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
A Giants star wants to clear up a common misconception about football’s grass-versus-turf debate, and he’s speaking from experience playing in some of the coldest conditions the NFL has to offer.
Eleven NFL stadiums installed temporary natural grass this summer to meet FIFA’s requirements for World Cup matches, even though seven of them use artificial turf during football season. Once the tournament wrapped, crews tore out the grass and reinstalled turf, a move that frustrated no shortage of current players.
World Cup gets the boot!
MetLife Stadium rips out the soccer pitch and scraps its NY/NJ Stadium makeover pic.twitter.com/OjZOiQAP4Q— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) July 22, 2026
Jermaine Eluemunor Sets The Record Straight On Frozen Grass
New York Giants offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor watched Argentina and Spain play a World Cup match on natural grass inside his own home stadium, then had to go back to turf once the tournament ended. He posted online that the grass looked beautiful and that stadiums should keep it, sparking a conversation about a common excuse used to defend turf: that frozen grass in winter is somehow worse than artificial surfaces.
Eluemunor shut that idea down directly. “Turf vs grass in December is no debate,” he said, adding that even in brutal conditions in Green Bay, grass still felt better than turf “anytime.” In his view, any grass, even chewed up after a full season, beats turf outright.
Turf vs Grass in December is no debate! Doesn’t matter how cold it gets grass will always feel better. I’ve Played in Green Bay in early December and it still felt a million times better than turf anytime. Turf will never be the answer https://t.co/UPxFULVlZv
— Jermaine Eluemunor (@JEluemunor) July 19, 2026
Jermaine Eluemunor Joins A Growing Chorus Of NFL Players
Eluemunor is far from alone in this fight. Several other NFL stars have used the World Cup as a chance to publicly campaign for grass, and prior reporting has tracked the growing pressure.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle repeatedly pushed the league on social media, posting that the grass at MetLife Stadium looked great and asking the NFL to “keep it that way.”
Dallas Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb made a similar plea, reposting a stat that 92 percent of players prefer grass and adding a simple “please? @nfl” — though Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has already pushed back on that request.
Other players echoed the same frustration under the hashtag #WorthTheCost, including Jonathan Taylor and Caleb Williams, both of whom argued that natural grass isn’t out of reach financially — it’s simply a matter of priorities.
Despite the mounting pressure, Commissioner Roger Goodell has defended the league’s reliance on injury data rather than public sentiment, and a recent ranking of field conditions shows several other franchises share Eluemunor’s frustration.
According to ESPN, independent data shows injuries are roughly 16 percent more likely on turf than grass, a gap that keeps this debate alive every offseason.
For now, Eluemunor and his fellow players will head into the 2026 season on the same artificial surfaces they’ve been fighting to replace, with the grass-versus-turf argument likely to resurface again the next time a star gets hurt.
