Every week, the NFL delivers a remarkable range of stories. I like to use this spot to encapsulate that broad expanse here.
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The Good: Flipping Out
As Profootballtalk.com framed it, "For some football players, the attitude that makes them great on the field can tempt them to do dumb things off the field.
"Case in point: Giants running back Cam Skattebo."
In November, not long after he suffered a season-ending ankle injury, he was pushing and shoving at a WWE event. Now that his ankle has healed, Skattebo wanted to prove it during an appearance at Fanatics Fest.
After pulling up the leg of his pants to expose the ankle that had been dislocated (along with a tibia fracture), Skattebo did a backflip. He didn't stick the landing.
Cam Skattebo shows off his knee being fully healed then falls doing a backflip 🥴 pic.twitter.com/RBUeGLNHmH
— Underdog (@Underdog) July 18, 2026
On Sunday, Skattebo and Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart appeared on a special episode of The Fantasy Footballers from SiriusXM. Skattebo addressed his Saturday shenanigans. "I mean, so I've been doing backflips since I was like four years old," Skattebo said. "So it's natural to me. I'm gonna address the elephant. I will not hurt myself before the season . . .
"I'm perfectly fine. Nothing happened. We're good."
Some would say it's not good that Skattebo unnecessarily put himself at risk.
I'm not among them.
Allow me to take the contrarian point of view, if you will.
I'm all in on Skattebo heading into 2026. I rank him as my RB13, well ahead of his RB19 Average Draft Position. Why the conviction?
Because he is who he is.
Skattebo plays on the field as he behaves off it -- with reckless abandon and little regard for his health and personal safety.
It's a big reason for his success last year, and it will be part of his success -- if he has it -- this year.
So yeah. I'm fine with the backflip.
If I had a complaint, it would be the same one that his coach, John Harbaugh, had.
"My reaction was this: Dude, at least stick it. I mean, land the thing if you're going to do it, you know?" the coach said with a laugh.
Otherwise, it's all good.
The Bad: Fields of Screams
As CBSSports.com's Carter Bahns reported, the 2026 FIFA World Cup was a cultural experience that brought new perspectives to the United States, and one of them might have staying power in the NFL.
Stars throughout the league watched as natural grass replaced the artificial turf in their home stadiums.
Numerous NFL players want that change to become permanent.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle was among the first to publicly point out what these playing surface changes could mean for his league.
Grass still looks great! Let’s use grass instead of turf @NFL !! Please? Thanks guys! pic.twitter.com/1iS8Jf2zPX
— George Kittle (@gkittle46) July 19, 2026
Last month, at the start of the World Cup, Kittle said the transition from artificial turf to natural grass at venues like MetLife Stadium and SoFi Stadium proves the NFL could play on grass year-round if owners "really gave a s---."
Kittle said last month he thinks 90 percent of players would prefer natural grass over artificial turf if given the option. While it is unclear if that large a majority actually supports it, there is clearly enough backing for the NFL Players Association to make it one of its primary sticking points with the league.
The union leaned into the movement over the weekend with the hashtag #WorthTheCost. Players called on league stakeholders to invest in player safety and universally ditch artificial turf, and Bears quarterback Caleb Williams joined the campaign.
#worththecost pic.twitter.com/UxVcFc4lr2
— Caleb Williams (@CALEBcsw) July 17, 2026
Bahns noted that player safety is the crux of the argument for natural grass.
NFL injury data from 2012-18 showed a 28 percent higher rate of non-contact lower-extremity injuries on turf compared with grass. Turf is particularly hard on knees and ankles, resulting in 32 percent more non-contact knee injuries and 69 percent more foot and ankle injuries over those seven years.
Bahns wrote, "Those numbers are rooted in physics: Grass has more give, while turf places more force on the legs."
MetLife Stadium, which hosted eight World Cup matches on a newly installed grass field, has long been at the center of scrutiny. With its AstroTurf in place, the following NFL standouts -- among numerous other players -- suffered serious lower-body injuries there over the last six years:
- Malik Nabers (torn ACL)
- Aaron Rodgers (torn Achilles)
- Sterling Shepard (torn ACL)
- Wan'Dale Robinson (torn ACL)
- Kyle Fuller (torn ACL)
- Nick Bosa (torn ACL)
Exactly half of the NFL's stadiums use artificial turf, so players are deeply familiar with going back and forth and feeling the effects of both surface types.
Bahns acknowledged that converting a field from turf to grass is a significant undertaking. Still, the NFL is not short on resources, and half the league already uses natural grass.
Getting the other half to make the switch is not asking too much, players argue.
"Why not just spend a couple extra million dollars, which we know they all have, to just grass all the fields?" Kittle said. "It doesn't seem that difficult."
Of course, this issue is not new.
In fact, I wrote the following for Sports Illustrated back in October of 2001 (yes, I've been doing this for a minute), and my words are as relevant today as they were then:
"The NFL has become one of the most popular and profitable sports leagues ever, primarily because it boasts one of the most uniquely talented, highly-paid, hard-to-replace work forces known to man. That being the case, why on earth do they continue to put that workforce at risk by sending it out to do battle on inferior playing surfaces?
"You tell me, and we'll both know . . ."
It's too bad it hasn't been addressed.