NFL team owners have decided to prohibit the 'hip-drop tackle.' However, the decision has sparked discontent among some individuals.

March 27, 2024

NFL team owners have decided to prohibit the 'hip-drop tackle.' However, the decision has sparked discontent among some individuals.

NFL team owners officially passed a resolution to outlaw the 'hip-drop tackle' from the sport during Monday's annual league meeting held in Florida.

This tackle technique has been a subject of contention for some time and has been linked to numerous injuries in the NFL. According to the league, the hip-drop tackle involves a swiveling motion where a player "grasps the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms" and then "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."

Starting from the upcoming season, this tackle will be penalized with a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down, as announced by the league.

Nevertheless, not everyone has welcomed the decision with open arms. Former three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, JJ Watt, voiced his discontent on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, stating, "Just fast forward to the belts with flags on them." Similarly, Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland expressed criticism, posting on X: "Breaking news: Tackling Banned."

Rich McKay, chair of the NFL Competition Committee, defended the rule alteration during a press conference on Monday, emphasizing the league's commitment to player health and safety. He stated, "We have an obligation from a health and safety standpoint to protect players when there’s unreasonable risk of injury. And in this one, there’s pure data that it’s an unreasonable risk of injury. So that’s why we changed the rule. We made a lot of playing rule proposals and changes over the year on health and safety. And sometimes, they’re looked at as though you’re making the game softer. I just don’t agree with that at all. I believe you’re trying to make the game safer."

Baltimore Ravens star Mark Andrews experienced firsthand the consequences of this tackle last season, suffering a significant ankle injury in November due to the controversial technique. Earlier this year, Andrews refrained from assigning blame to the player who tackled him and opted not to engage in the debate over banning the technique. He remarked, "It kind of was just an unfortunate event. I’m just going to let everybody else do their thing. If they want to ban the tackle, fine. I’m going to go hard no matter what. I don’t blame the guy. He was just playing hard."

During Monday's meeting, the league also voted on two other changes: firstly, to safeguard a team's ability to challenge a third ruling following a successful challenge, and secondly, to permit the enforcement of a major foul by the offense before a change of possession in situations where both teams commit fouls.

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NFL team owners have decided to prohibit the 'hip-drop tackle.' However, the decision has sparked discontent among some individuals.

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