Denver Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles is fortunate.
Not because of his Pro Bowl or First Team All-Pro selection in 2025. Nor is is because he plays for one of the best teams in the NFL. It is because the Broncos are on the list of teams who have the preferred playing surface.
The problem is, the NFL’s 32 teams operating as the separate entities that they are. However, the players showing a renewed and heightened resolve.
Broncos’ Garett Bolles Joins Pushback Against NFL Playing Surfaces
GettyGarett Bolles joined the league-wide effort of his NFL brethren.
As a member of the Broncos, Bolles is guaranteed to have at least nine games on Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium every season; at least one drawing the preseason and eight-plus during the regular season (international games notwithstanding).
However, only 15 NFL stadiums–half of the total in the league–have grass surfaces.
“We’ve seen what’s possible. Now it’s time to make grass fields the standard,” Bolles posted on X on July 18. “Players are #WorthTheCost”
The hashtag underscores that Bolles’ message is part of the league-wide push from NFL players. It follows the measures take during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. For it, 11 stadiums that did not previously use natural grass outfitted with the surface.
Again, Bolles is fortunate.
Not only does he get his nine-plus games on grass with the Broncos, two of the Broncos’ AFC West rivals–the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders–both also use natural grass.
NFLPA Sent Message to NFL
GettyThe NFLPA has lobbied on behalf of players like Denver Broncos OT Garett Bolles.
Bolles’ act is part of a greater push by individual players and the NFLPA. The association issued a statement in June on behalf of the Broncos star and his fellow complainants.
“The temporary installation of natural grass fields for the World Cup is a choice by certain NFL team owners to do for soccer players what they refuse to do for NFL players,” the NFLPA said in a statement posted on X in June “It’s no longer a question of capability: the technology exists, the expertise exists and the resources exist to install the high-level grass fields that our players overwhelmingly prefer,”.
“We have seen the meaningful investments made to meet the standard for international athletes and global events. NFL players — who regularly compete on these fields, help fund these stadiums, and whose work makes the league what it is today — deserve the same commitment to quality grass fields.”
According to the NFLPA, “92% of players prefer natural grass.” Meanwhile, only 2% prefer synthetic. That is fewer than those that have no preference (6%). Yet and still, the NFL removed the surfaces following the end of use.
Multiple independent studies have confirmed that there is at least a slight increase in injury rate among players on artificial turf compared to natural grass.
The NFL has leaned into the difference being negligible.
The National Center for Biotechnical Information published a study in August 2024 noting an increase in catastrophic injuries for players on turf compared to grass, specifically during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Still, though, the NFL has shown no sign of wavering at large.
NFL Gets Supporting Argument From FIFA
GettyGarett Bolles and his fellow players could have a difficult time getting changes enacted.
ESPN’s Jordan Raanan laid out the measures that FIFA went through. He set the stage for a letdown for Bolles and the Broncos OT’s NFL brethren.
“It’s a project that FIFA says needed six to seven years of research to implement. It was a massive overhaul in which field use was banned at each stadium for approximately 10 weeks ahead of the World Cup to ensure there were no other events before and during the five-plus weeks of soccer competition,” Raanan wrote on July 12.
“The 11 U.S. stadiums have since been equipped with warm or cool season grass hybrids, depending on the environment. Each field took weeks to install with grass grown on what’s called ‘sod-on-plastic.’ This technique allows the surface to be deconstructed, rolled up and shipped with its root system preserved. Specialized stitching machines sew the field into place upon delivery and weeks of maintenance with help from newly installed ventilation systems and grow lights keep the grass pristine for soccer’s biggest stage.”
Raanan added that it is “not nearly as simple as just leaving the new grass fields from the World Cup behind for the NFL season” due to all of the maintenance FIFA required are viewed as unfeasible for stadiums in the NFL.
“These stadiums host countless events aside from NFL games that easily could disrupt the growth and maintenance of the grass,” Raanan wrote.
Raanan said cutting back on the multiuse nature for better surfaces “isn’t realistic.”
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