Travis Kelce expresses concerns of playing on artificial turf of any kind

At this point, no one will ever doubt just how important Travis Kelce is to the Kansas City Chiefs. So far, even just five games into the regular season, Chiefs fans have had more than one moment at which we were praying to the powers-that-be that the All-Pro tight end would be okay.

The first scare of the season came on a knee injury suffered in practice that turned out to be a bone bruise before Week 1. The result was his first missed game due to injury in 9 years and a surprising loss to the Detroit Lions by a single point.

The latest scare concerning Kelce came on a non-contact injury when Kelce went down at U.S. Bank Stadium when facing the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5. Shortly before halftime, Kelce seemed to randomly slip and came up hobbling due to an ankle injury. He was taken into the locker room early for x-rays and, for at least a minute, fans feared the worst. Fortunately, Kelce returned in the second half and even had a touchdown catch to help seal the win.

The latest episode of New Heights features an honest and engaging look at the problems with turf.

The injury to Kelce and another high-profile injury for Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson brought up an important talking point around the NFL this week, however: the dangers of artificial turf.

On the latest episode of their uber-popular podcast New Heights, both Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce spoke in depth about their concerns with turf of any kind, and Jason in particular was very passionate about saying that any stadium that chooses anything but grass is "dumb." As for Travis, he stated that various kinds of turf can bring varied amounts of strain on the body. "Even if it’s a minimal amount of strain, it’s still putting more strain on the joints for sure."

"My theory on any turf is that there’s black pellets," Travis went on to say. "When your cleat is on top of turf, you don’t really get that natural digging into the ground. It kinda just grabs on top of the turf, your cleats grab on top of the turf, and if you have too many black pellets, it’s almost as if you’re on stilts a little bit. It’s an unstable surface. That’s where it gets iffy for me, because the more unstable it is, the more you throw your feet into the ground, and that’s not a good equation." 

You can hear the full conversation on the latest episode of New Heights below.