THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- When asked whether he has a preference for playing on a turf field compared to a natural grass field, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp didn't hesitate.
"It's not even close," Kupp said Thursday. "I know there's stuff going around the league right now, there's some issues. Hands down, we should be playing on grass. Hands down, we should be on grass. And that's all I'm going to say."
The question about playing on artificial turf was asked after Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf and Los Angeles Chargers cornerback J.C. Jackson both left Sunday's game at SoFi Stadium with knee injuries, both on noncontact plays.
SoFi Stadium, where both the Rams and Chargers play, has an artificial turf field. Fourteen of the NFL's 30 stadiums use an artificial surface.
Kupp was then asked if the turf at SoFi Stadium was any different, and he quickly replied, "We should be on grass."
One of Kupp's teammates, cornerback Jalen Ramsey, said Friday he prefers playing on grass, adding, "I feel like it's better for you."
"It's better on your joints," Ramsey said. "It's better on your body. And this might sound a little funky, a little weird, but ... it feels different. You can feel the grass differently than you can feel the turf. The grass might have a little give to it. The way you plant, the way you break, grass just feels ... the feel of it is better.
"I ain't tripping, though. I'll play on concrete if I've got to."
Ramsey was asked whether he thinks the turf at SoFi Stadium is any different, given the injuries that have happened on it, including to Metcalf and Jackson on Sunday. Ramsey said "sometimes freak accidents happen" and acknowledged "there's a lot that goes into" the decision about which surface to play on.
"Nothing is ever really simple," Ramsey said. "... Business goes into it, other type of stuff go into all of these decisions when it comes to making a mega stadium like this. So it's just part of it. It is what it is. Everybody's got to deal with it, so it ain't like something we can really complain about it, you know what I mean? Because everybody has to deal with it.
"It sucks, though, to see injuries like that, regardless of it was just a freak accident or it was because of the turf, or whatever. It just sucks to see this many guys injured."
On Wednesday, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said the issue is something "we definitely need to look at this really seriously in the offseason again."
"It's been a discussion before," Carroll said. "We've got to do what's right, and we've got to do what's safest for the players, and we've got to make those choices. I would pound on the drum for that."
In 2020, after San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan complained about the artificial surface at MetLife Stadium, NFL Players Association president JC Tretter called for all NFL teams to switch to natural grass to reduce the risk of injury.