NFL owners unanimously approve hip-drop tackle ban
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The NFL is eliminating the hip-drop tackle.
NFL team owners on Monday unanimously approved a rule that bans players from using a swivel technique to tackle an opponent.
A violation will result in a 15-yard penalty and could ultimately result in fines for players.
NFL executive Jeff Miller said the hip-drop tackle was used 230 times last season and resulted in 15 players missing time with injuries.
The NFL Players Association has adamantly opposed the rule.
“It doesn’t get used very often, but when it is used, it’s incredibly injurious to the runner,” NFL Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay said. “The runner is purely defenseless. And I have heard defenders say it before, and I hear them, ‘Hey, you’re putting me in a really tough spot. You’re saying I can’t hit here. What do I do?’ And my response has always been, ‘Well, you can’t do that, and that’s just because the guy you’re hitting is defenseless and has no way to protect himself.’ So we’ve got to protect him and you’ve got to come up with other ways, and you know what, they do.”
The league played a video during a news conference to show six specific plays in which the hip-drop tackle was used in games, with Bengals tight end Drew Sample, Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, Bengals receiver Tyler Boyd, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith and Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill all being on the receiving end of the now-illegal hit.
NFL teams will continue to receive videos showing illegal hits and ways to make tackles within the rules.
“It’s a new rule, so they’ll not have seen it,” McKay said about officiating the penalty. “This is never practiced; nobody does this in practice. There’s never a player that’s going to use this tactic on a player on his own team in a practice so they’re never going to see it. They’re only going to see it in the game. We’re going to take all these tapes that you’ve seen. … we’re going to take them all to the clubs and show them: this is what we don’t want. This is what a foul looks like.”