NFL defenders are running out of ways to bring opposing players to the ground as the sport of professional football continues to grow softer.
The league banned so-called “hip-drop” tackling on Monday morning following a unanimous vote by the Competition Committee at an annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, the NFL reported.
Players who bring down another player this coming season will now be penalized if they grab that person by the waist and end a run with their own body on that player’s legs anywhere below their knee.
The way the rule is written, it seems to describe common ways players stop others from gaining yards.
It also reads as though it can be broadly interpreted and selectively enforced.
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“[A player] grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.”
The new rule banning the so-called “hip-drop” tackle stated it is a foul punishable by 15 yards. Tom Pelissero with the NFL Network shared an example of the tackle he said the league cited:
Here’s the video the NFL just showed in a press conference of what are now banned swivel hip-drop tackles (with NFL executive Jeff Miller speaking in the background). pic.twitter.com/Y4H8h6pQkW
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 25, 2024
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the technique was banned against the wishes of the NFL Player’s Association:
Now banned: pic.twitter.com/lMphF4x2Bw
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 25, 2024
The NFL’s announcement also led to some major grumbling from former players and at least one former head coach.
“I’m all for player safety. We need to make the game as safe as possible,” Tony Dungy posted as he shared a note that stated, “You can’t bring down a ball carrier who is running away from you without dropping your weight.”
I’m all for player safety. We need to make the game as safe as possible. And I must admit I don’t know what a “hip drop” tackle is. Having played & coached defense I can tell you there is only one way to make a tackle from behind without dropping your weight-which could be worse pic.twitter.com/PMs5Z2xp7h
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) March 25, 2024
Dungy added, “I must admit I don’t know what a ‘hip drop’ tackle is. Having played & coached defense I can tell you there is only one way to make a tackle from behind without dropping your weight-which could be worse.”
J.J. Watt suggested the NFL should just skip ahead through more offseasons that target defenders and just switch to a flag football league:
With the hip drop banned the only way for a DB to tackle a full-speed tight end will be going for the knees. That’s going to cause WAY more injuries.
— Parker Thayer (@ParkerThayer) March 25, 2024
Emmanuel Acho said in no uncertain terms on a video he posted online that “there is no such thing as a ‘hip-drop’ tackle.”
He also offered an example of how defenders find themselves in a position to bring down another player in a “hip-drop” scenario.
Did the NFL make a mistake?
“Imagine trying to tackle Rob Gronkowski. How are you gonna do it?” he asked. “Unless you are directly in front of him and he’s in front of you, you’ve got to find a way to bring him down!”
There’s no such thing as a “hip drop tackle.”
A “hip drop tackle” is just a …TACKLE! pic.twitter.com/QOhyxa09St
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) March 25, 2024
“We created this name ‘hip-drop’ tackle to try to vilify something that’s just a tackle,” he argued. “There’s no such thing! It’s literally, literally just a tackle.”
Acho argued that the NFL is going “soft” and said players have no other option but to use their leverage when facing a runner who is about to run right through them.
ESPN’s Pat McAfee was confused about the rule change on his broadcast on Monday.
McAfee predicted NFL referees would inevitably second-guess standard tackles in the coming year and some would find themselves controlling the outcomes of games.
The NFL has banned the “hip drop tackle” in a unanimous decision..
Everybody seems to be pissed and for good reason #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/Re90tm4mm4
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 25, 2024
“We understand the sentiment,” Mcafee said, noting some of the tackles look dangerous.
But McAfee added, “But whenever you put this kind of broad ‘hip-drop’ tackle thing … you’re putting a lot of judgment into these [referee’s] hands.”
