It didn't take the NFL very long to submit a rule proposal banning hip-drop tackles
One of the more recent debates within NFL circles is what to do about hip-drop tackles. In case you aren't fully aware of what they are, it's the kind of tackle that hurt Patrick Mahomes and Tony Pollard in the 2022-2023 playoffs and Mark Andrews during the 2023 regular season. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith also […]
One of the more recent debates within NFL circles is what to do about hip-drop tackles. In case you aren't fully aware of what they are, it's the kind of tackle that hurt Patrick Mahomes and Tony Pollard in the 2022-2023 playoffs and Mark Andrews during the 2023 regular season.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith also made headlines for his comments after he was hip-dropped by Isaiah Simmons in Week 4 of the 2023 regular season.
“[It was] a dirty play,” Smith said after the game. “Dirty play. You guys could see it. It was a dirty play. There’s no place in this sport for that. And, you know, hopefully something happens. But other than that, the grace of God allowed me to come back into this game…
"… I don’t respect that type of stuff, you know what I mean? There’s no need for that type of stuff. It’s a hard-fought game out there. We’re all battling. But no need to take shots at guys running out of bounds on the sideline.”
The NFL has been trying to come up with a rule to prevent hip-drops from occurring, but said as recently as mid-October 2023 that there still wasn't a way to properly define a hip-drop. Therefore, it's impossible to impose a rule if you don't know what you're looking for. The league also approached the idea of banning hip-drops during the 2023 offseason, but Troy Vincent, the NFL's Executive President of Football Operations, said there was a need for more data before moving the discussion forward.
Still, the ultimate endgame is to find a way to ban it.
Now, a mere five months later, the NFL and its Competition Committee feels like there is enough data and a clear enough label to where it can submit a proposal banning hip-drop tackles, per CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones.
Is the NFL rushing this too much?
Player safety is extremely important and should always be priority No. 1. For starters, these are human beings, so their health safety should always be at the forefront. Also, if everyone is hurt, the sport obviously suffers. In a big way.
It really feels like the NFL is rushing this, too much, however. They literally said back in October there wasn't a clear way to define/label the tackle, so it's hard -at least on my end- to fathom them all of a sudden having the utmost confidence in the opposite, just a few months later. And, going back to the need for more data – what did the past season really tell you that you not only didn't know in Spring 2023, but was also enough to move forward with a proposal?
And it's not a benign proposal, either. This is guaranteed to affect the outcome of games, which ultimately can cost people their jobs.
“There’s going to be collateral damage,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles told USA Today in 2023 . "You want to limit it as much as possible. You don’t want anybody getting hurt, but it’s hard to tell somebody how to tackle. The angles are different. The speed is different. I don’t know how you stop it. ‘Don’t tackle high. Don’t tackle low. Don’t hip-drop.’ What are you going to tell a guy? Some guys are more athletic than others. Where does it stop?
"I mean, god—-. Just play 7-on-7 and the game will be over.”
We've seen what happens when the league rushes to implement a new rule: All one has to do is look back to 2019 and the awful rule that allowed coaches to challenge defensive pass interference. It only made things worse and the NFL quickly did away with the rule after just one year.
This is no place to play guinea pig and "just see how things go". If it's passed, let's hope this doesn't blow up in the NFL's face like it certainly could.
