A quarterback throws a dangerous pass in the middle of the field and the intended receiver gets blasted by a safety. Instead of cheering, you wait for a few seconds. Is that an illegal hit? Is the referee going to throw the flag? The hit was spectacular and once celebrated by the league and media alike but today, the defense might get a severe penalty for it. Tackling and how it’s policed looks completely different than it did 10 years ago and there might be more change on the horizon.
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The NFL’s focus on reducing concussions was a necessary move for the preservation of players and the sport itself. This game will always be dangerous but it’s safer now than ever. The league now is gathering information on “hip-drop” tackles to decide if they should join the list of banned actions and how they will address it. Based on my conversations with league officials, it sounds like it’s only a matter of time. Opinions will vary on whether the tackle should be banned, but it’s important to understand what it is and why a rule change that may affect NFL games as soon as next season is possible.
The league is working on how to define it. Jeff Miller, the executive vice president at the NFL who oversees health and safety, admits that they are trying to get alignment on what a hip-drop tackle is exactly. Without a clear definition, it can’t be officiated. The league is in conversation with coaches and the competition committee to finalize a definition.
They have concepts or elements they associate with a hip-drop tackle.
1. The tackler unweighing his legs or dropping his weight.
2. A pivot or swivel by the tackler, which they believe to be a second act by the tackler.
3. Landing on the ball carrier’s legs.
These concepts align closely with how the National Rugby League defines a hip-drop tackle. New Zealand Rugby looked into these types of tackles and took action.
The NFL is still in the early stages of gathering data, but it has found that these types of tackles have 25 times more likelihood of injuring a player than other tackles. They usually result in significant lower-body issues like knee injuries, high ankle sprains, and, in some cases, fractures.
ESPN’s injury analyst Stephania Bell, a licensed physical therapist, explained why injuries are so common and severe with hip-drop tackles.
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“Their hips drops, your knee bends inward, and your foot is relatively pointing outwards,” Bell said of defenders using the hip-drop technique. “It’s externally rotated relative to the rest of your leg. And that creates what we call an external rotation moment at the foot and ankle. It’s a mechanism for ankle sprain when your foot is rotated out relative to the rest of your leg. But when that leg is trapped, like with a body weight falling on top of it, there’s nowhere for it to go. That energy has got to go somewhere. And so it’s usually going through the ankle and sometimes up into the knee. And so that’s what we’re seeing is that energy is getting absorbed and creating these catastrophic injuries.”
Even if you believe this type of tackle is unavoidable, it’s worth discussing because the data is pretty glaring and the injuries are significant. Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, who was set to be a free agent last offseason, broke his leg last year when he was tackled with a hip-drop in the playoffs by then-San Francisco 49ers defensive back Jimmie Ward, who now plays for the Texans.
The NFL Players Association released an official statement in March against a 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.”
Miller said the league is collaborating with coaches and the NFLPA on a possible rule change.
“The topic was raised with them and the competition committee last year and will be again,” Miller said. “So it is a frequently collaborative process where the player’s association’s perspective will be considered by the rules-making body and I think that that’s a good system.”
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A defensive coach I spoke with said the hip-drop tackle is a made-up phrase and that it’s just a desperation tackle that’s not intentional. Of course, most NFL defenders and defensive coaches would be against the league implementing a rule on hip-drop tackles but coaches and players who have seen a member of their team suffer a significant injury from it might feel differently.
After Ravens star tight end Mark Andrews fractured his fibula on “Thursday Night Football” after Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson hip-drop tackled him, a source told me some of the Ravens coaches expressed they thought the tackle should be banned.
Logan Wilson’s tackle on Mark Andrews knocked the tight end out for the season with a broken fibula and ankle ligament damage. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)Even Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey spoke out against that style of tackling on his podcast.
“That dude (Wilson) was definitely out there like hunting,” Humphrey said. “I’m not saying to hurt people, but yeah … he’s getting to the ball.”
Harbaugh said the Logan Wilson tackle on Andrews was “definitely a hip drop tackle.” Those are the type of hits that some players have called to be taken out of the game
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) November 17, 2023
Like a horse-collar tackle, defenders are just trying to bring down the ball carrier any way they can and likely don’t have the intention of hurting anyone.
“I’m optimistic that we’re going to get to a place where we can identify some techniques that we think cause greater risk and need to be removed from the game,” Miller said. “But it is a work in progress. The goal would be in the offseason in the typical time frame when we look at new rules and amend others and identify points of emphasis, that we can agree on something on the hip-drop tackle.”
Again, the first step for the league is coming up with a consensus definition and then deciding if it can be officiated. The NFL has had conversations with rugby leagues about rules and behavioral changes. New Zealand Rugby was able to effectively eliminate the hip-drop tackle with after-game penalties, knowing that they could have trouble trying to officiate it during the game.
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Miller presumes that the league will look to see if they could officiate it on the field first but will discuss whether they will take rugby’s lead and discipline players after games. Regardless, it sounds like NFL defenders will have to adjust how they tackle yet again soon.
(Top photo of Tony Pollard being injured on a tackle by Jimmie Ward: Michael Owens / Getty Images)
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