NFL COMPETITION COMMITTEE PROPOSES TO BAN HIP DROP TACKLE AHEAD OF ANNUAL LEAGUE MEETINGS
The NFL Competition Committee has proposed ten new rule changes that are slated to be heard at the Annual League Meeting next week, including a new rule that would remove the hip-drop tackle from the game, the league announced on Wednesday.
The proposed new rule would see a player penalized with a 15-yard penalty and grant the opposition an automatic first down for using the hip-drop tackle to bring a runner to the ground. The NFL competition committee intends to define a hip-drop tackle as a tackling manoeuver in which the tackler either: a) grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and b) unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.
Statistically speaking, hip-drop tackles tend to have a much higher injury rate than any other legal tackles in the game, with an outstanding 20-25X injury rate.
NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent told media on Thursday that the hip-drop tackle is something the league wants to get out of the game. “We tried to draft it very specifically and we were quick to say, it’s hard to see all the elements. So, the no.1 thing is to get the technique out of the game.”
The league competition committee chairman Rich McKay admitted on a call with the media that they realize the hip-drop tackle will be hard to officiate live on Sundays. McKay said the league intends to try to enforce the rule on Mondays to help players understand the techniques the league is aiming to eliminate, which translates into more fines for the players.
The NFLPA reacted to the NFL’s proposed new rule on Wednesday, just a mere five hours after the news broke, by releasing a statement that made it clear players are opposed to prohibiting the hip-drop tackle. “The players oppose any attempt by the NFL to implement a rule prohibiting a “swivel hip-drop” tackle,” the statement read.
“While the NFLPA remains committed to improvements to our game with health and safety in mind, we cannot support a rule change that causes confusion for us as players, for coaches, for officials and especially, for fans. We call on the NFL again, to reconsider implementing this rule.”
One of the players who was recently injured after being hip-drop tackled is Ravens three-time Pro Bowl TE Mark Andrews, who went down on Thursday, Nov. 16, after being brought down by Bengals LB Logan Wilson. The 2021 First-team All-Pro was, however, opposed to the idea of banning the play when he spoke to the media ahead of the Ravens’ divisional game against the Texans in January.
“You know, I don’t have any thoughts on that [whether the tackle should be outlawed or not],” said Andrews, almost three months after suffering what was thought to be a season-ending injury. “It was kind of just an unfortunate event. I’m going to let everybody do their thing, if they want to ban the tackle, fine but I’m going to go out there [and] play hard, no matter what. I don’t blame the guy [Wilson], he was just playing ball.”
NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Troy Vincent, said they always welcome player feedback and have discussed the hip-drop tackle with some of the game’s legends. He however, reiterated that the tackle “is something we have to remove.”
NFL Owners are set to meet for their first league meeting of the year in Orlando, Florida, and are preparing to discuss the proposed new rule amongst others including the kickoff rule and the potential of the trade deadline being moved back. The league confirmed that final 2024 playing rules, bylaws and resolution proposals will be voted on at the meetings between March 24 and 27th.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.