NFL 2024 Rule Change: Proposals To ban hip-drop tackle

The Competition Committee has announced its plan to outlaw hip-drop tackles in response to Commissioner Roger Goodell’s directive. If a defender caught the ball carrier with both hands or wrapped him around with both arms, he would be penalized 15 yards and would have to pivot or lower his body to fall on the runner’s leg below the knees and trap it.

NFL 2024 Rule Change: Proposals To ban hip-drop tackle

The NFLPA reaffirmed on Wednesday that it opposes any regulation that forbids the tackle.

“The players oppose any attempt by the NFL to implement a rule prohibiting a ‘swivel hip-drop’ tackle,” the NFLPA wrote on social media. “While the NFLPA remains committed to improvements to our game with health and safety in mind, we cannot support a rule change that causes confusion for us as players, for coaches, for officials, and especially, for fans. We call on the NFL, again, to reconsider the implementing this rule.”

We’re informed that the NFL is aware that it might not be as obvious in real time as a horse-collar tackle. However, it ought to be less difficult to identify than disregarding the prohibition on bringing the helmet down or forcing an opponent to touch you.

Real-time detection is only a portion of the enforcement process. The league will have the power to punish the tackler after the fact, which should, in theory, cause them to give up a strategy the league considers risky, even if the officials miss it, particularly when it occurs (as it usually does) in the tackle box.

Naturally, that will raise questions about whether the hearing officers will support the league’s enforcement actions.

The regulation as written does not distinguish between grabbing a player and yanking him back and tackling a player from behind. For Brooks and Thrash, the final wording of the rule—should it be adopted—will have the last say. There will be further inquiries into their qualifications as hearing officers if they decline to follow the written norm.

Either way, it looks like the rule will be enacted in the May owners’ meeting, maybe even next week, if enough coaches disagree. Actually, that’s what the league’s management desires. The league office often gets its request when it sincerely wants something, as we’ve seen in the past.

For the past two seasons, hip-drop tackles have generated a lot of discussion among players in the league. Up until 2023, there was some discussion regarding possible rule changes, but the competition committee never formally proposed one.

In a statement released in March 2023, the NFL Players Association urged the league to keep the hip-drop tackle technique legal.

 

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