Courtesy of Chris Chow
Football fans, officials, and players have been in an uproar since March 25, when the NFL officially announced the hip-drop tackle would be banned. Many current and former players have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to voice their opinions on the rule change. Notably, three-time Defensive Player of the Year and current CBS NFL Analyst, J.J. Watt, posted, “Just fast forward to the belts with flags on them…”
Many defensive players have complained that the new ban puts tacklers in an awkward position when chasing down a ball carrier. Others are unsure of what constitutes a hip-drop tackle and if the referees would be able to properly enforce the rule in real-time.
However, not all parties are opposed to the rule change. Running back Kenyan Drake tweeted about the tackling style in 2021 when he sustained a second ankle injury in back-to-back seasons because of the move. Drake expressed his pleasure with the rule change on X, where he stated, “I don’t care about popular opinion. I lost my right ankle and a quarter of the ‘21 season to this type of tackle. Something had to give and I’m glad it’s not anybody legs/ankles anymore”
With this debate raging on, the question has been raised: what is a hip-drop tackle?
The NFL’s Competition Committee has defined the hip-drop as a tackle where 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.” Such a penalty will result in a fifteen-yard penalty and an automatic first down.
The NFL Competition Committee unanimously banned the tackle, taking inspiration from rugby leagues around the world, which have prohibited a similar tackle because of its threat to player’s legs. The committee’s argument for the ban stems mainly from the data they collected comparing the tackle’s frequency and severity between the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Players have opted for different tackling styles as rules have been introduced to prevent helmet-to-helmet hits and limit concussions. This transition has resulted in a 65% increase in the hip-drop tackle’s frequency from the 2022 to 2023 season. The tackle was exhibited 230 times in 2023, which accounts for less than once per game, with 15 of those tackles causing players to miss at least one game with injury. The hip-drop was also found to have 20-25 times the injury rate of other types of tackles. The NFL’s argument boils down to the league being privy to a statistically dangerous part of the game becoming more common and their desire to stop the problem before it spreads. Each NFL game averages around 120 tackles, so banning a single dangerous one per game seemingly would not impact the game as severely as some critics of the rule may assume.
On the other side of the aisle, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) released a statement against the rule change,
“It places defensive players in an impossible position by creating indecision in the mind of any tackling player, puts officials in an unreasonable situation that will result in inconsistent calls on the field, and confuses our fans.”
One of the primary arguments against the ruling is its difficulty in defining a hip-drop tackle in real time. The NFL has had controversies over what a catch is and what it defines as “roughing the passer.” Weekly, fans’ feeds were filled with strange calls while other seemingly obvious penalties were disregarded, negatively impacting the image of the league’s integrity. The NFLPA anticipates similar consequences with this new ruling.
With rules piling on defining what tackles defensive players cannot make, it is becoming more difficult for players to know what they can do. This last season, Broncos safety Kareem Jackson faced multiple suspensions for his tackling style. While suspended, Commissioner Roger Goodell hosted a meeting with Jackson and affirmed the position that it is the job of defensive players to protect their offensive counterparts. Jackson expressed that he was unsure how he would do that in the game. With the introduction of the hip-drop tackle, the waters become muddier for defensive players who now have less of an idea of how they should tackle.
The players’ association is also concerned with the possibility that this penalty will bring excessive fines, a possibility alluded to in the rule’s introduction. NFL fines are already contentious, with players having been fined amounts greater than their weekly paychecks. The hip-drop ruling only looks to worsen this issue if NFL fining reforms are not implemented, as the NFLPA has demanded.
Reactions from Conn students to the NFL’s example of a hip-drop tackle, Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson on Ravens receiver Mark Andrews during their Week 11 matchup, produced some interesting results. Noticeably, there was a lack of winces or gasps during the tackle and a relative confusion of what actually happened while seeing Andrews on the turf. An anonymous student said, “everything looked normal,” after being shown the video. Most viewers were relatively confused about the difference between Wilson’s tackle and any other tackle made during the game. The danger with the hip-drop and its banning is during the course of the play, nothing looks wrong. Viewers cannot tell if a problem occurred until the player is visibly injured.
While the NFL attempts to improve player safety, many have felt they are dodging a severe safety issue: artificial turf fields. The NFLPA has already sent letters to the NFL calling for all stadiums to be fitted with natural grass instead of artificial turf. These demands have effectively led nowhere. While dozens of players are injured yearly, most notably Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, due to synthetic turf, the NFL has offered no response and has chosen to implement rules affecting the game’s play style instead.
The new rule will not be seen in action until August, when the NFL begins its slate of preseason games. Coaching staff across the league will have to prepare their players for the rule change, and players will have to become more careful with their tackling to prevent giving up opposing offenses chunks of yardage. Only until the first slate of games has been played will the football world be sure if this is a step towards a safer league or the end of America’s favorite sport as we know it.
