On Monday morning, the NFL announced the ban on the hip drop tackle. It’s a controversial decision that many NFL fans feel uncertain about. On the one hand, it could save some player’s careers. But on the other, the definition of a legal tackle continues to be trimmed like a piece of meat.

The Rule States:

Hip-drop tackle- it is a foul if the player uses the following technique.

a. grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and

b. 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.

The penalty for this tackling technique will be 15 yards and an automatic first down. The key phrase to pay attention to is “swiveling and dropping his hips”.

Dozens of NFL players have suffered an injury because of the hip-drop tackle in recent years. Star players like Tony Pollard, Mark Andrews, and Rhamondre Stevenson are the most recent victims. If the rule had not been outlawed, more stars could have suffered a leg injury from the same tackle. However, since the helmet-to-helmet rule changes in 2018, the definition of a legal tackle has become slim and slimer.

How Are You Supposed To Tackle?

On defense and offense, you’re not allowed to lower your helmet to hit a player high. That rule also expands to defenseless players. Yet, defenseless players in general can’t be hit up high with a shoulder, elbow or helmet. It appears that the NFL prefers players to be tackled in a “sweet spot” located between the legs and head. The news of the hip-drop rule means a defensive player’s tackling technique now has to be perfect.

With recent criticism of NFL officiating, one should not anticipate immediate enforcement of this call. Early cases of the call should fall under the more extreme cases. But if the NFL decides to enforce the rule beyond 2024, we will surely start to see “ticky-tacky” versions of the call- which could become very frustrating to the average fan.

The NCAA has also been under the microscope in recent years for their harsh targeting rules. Fans of the game are becoming frustrated with the strictness of the rules, and rightfully so. But we as fans also need to recognize how hard it is to find the perfect balance between player safety and entertainment in a game as violent as football.

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