In recent years, hip-drop tackles have led to several serious injuries. And now the NFL is attempting to severely penalize players who do commit these kinds of tackles, proposing a rule to make them an automatic first down and a 15-yard penalty.
For those unaware of what exactly a hip-drop tackle is, it is defined as a tackle where a defender unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg at or below the knee.
An example of it can be seen below on an injury suffered by Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, who missed a majority of the season due to this tackle from Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson.
On Wednesday, the NFL competition committee proposed a new rule where a play like the one that injured Andrews would have resulted in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down.
Well, it turns out that the NFL Player’s Association (NFLPA) is not in favor of this proposed rule, issuing a statement as to why the league should “reconsider” implementing this rule.
“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.”
It’s understandable to hear that the NFLPA feels this way. While removing these kinds of tackles would be great for the game, it would indeed cause some confusion as to how defenders are supposed to tackle in certain instances.
Playing defense in the NFL nowadays is already increasingly difficult with how many pass interference calls and roughing the passer calls we see in any given game. And this new rule would only make things even more difficult for NFL defenses.
Now, the ball is in the NFL’s court as to how they respond to this statement from the NFLPA.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.