By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/04/2007
MIAMI — The reviews were lukewarm on the Rams' new FieldTurf surface in the Edward Jones Dome, according to the NFL Players Association's 2006 survey. But that's much better than the old AstroTurf surface fared in the NFLPA's 2004 survey.
In the '04 survey, the Edward Jones Dome was rated the second-worst playing surface in the entire National Football League, ahead of only Indianapolis and the RCA Dome.
But in this season's survey, the Edward Jones Dome was rated sixth best among the 12 artificial playing surfaces in the NFL. (The '06 survey ranked grass fields and artificial turfs in separate categories, rather than one overall ranking as had been done in the past.)
Among Rams respondents, one player ranked the Edward Jones surface a
as excellent; 27 said the surface was good; 17 ranked it as fair; and six ranked it as poor.
The NFLPA conducts its playing-surface survey every two years. A total of 1,511 active NFL players participated in the '06 survey.
Qwest Field in Seattle was rated as the top artificial surface. Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay was voted the top grass field. Giants Stadium, home of both the New York Giants and Jets, was ranked the worst artificial playing surface. New England's Gillette Stadium ranked last among grass fields.
Price of doing business
The Players Association also released its franchise tag numbers for the coming free-agency period. The highest franchise number is at quarterback: $12,615,000. Next comes offensive line ($9,556,000), followed by defensive end ($8,644,000). So the Rams probably did themselves a favor by signing DE
Leonard Little to a contract extension in November. He had been scheduled for unrestricted free agency.
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