NFL Rules Elaborated 2023: What Is The Current Helmet Rule, Guardian Caps & Hip Drop Tackle?

The NFL secretly changed the rules five years ago, declaring it a penalty for any player to drop his head and make contact with an opponent.

It started simply: “Lowering the head to initiate contact with the helmet is a foul.”

NFL Rules Elaborated 2023: What Is The Current Helmet Rule?

It has become increasingly challenging. The player does not have to initiate contact in order for it to be considered “forcible” according to the existing regulation. It also includes the facemask and any other component of the helmet. The rule for 2023 is listed below.

The prohibition on using the helmet as a weapon has been significantly expanded. A player who lowers his head and violently strikes an opponent with his helmet will still get a 15-yard penalty. The use of any component of a player’s helmet or face mask to butt or otherwise make forceful contact with an opponent’s head or neck will now result in a penalty.

Additionally, if a defensive player is responsible for the foul, the offence will gain a first down right away. The athlete may be eliminated. During a typical block or tackle, accidental contact with the mask or helmet is permitted.

The majority of penalties, according to the league, should be assessed on players who are playing outside the line of scrimmage.
To try to stop some of the behaviours that are still present, it is anticipated that the new regulation will be applied on the field or after the fact through fines. The league sees it as a new development in the effort to remove the mind from the game.

During games, the rule is rarely put into practice. The league office more frequently enforces it by issuing penalties and warnings following games. For instance, there were 229 fines and warnings issued for lowering the helmet in 2022, but only four penalties were assessed during actual games.

Half of the fines were overturned on appeal. Moreover, running backs received 48% of the fines.

The difference between the NFL’s officiating and the imposition of fines is startling. In order to make winning fine appeals simpler, the league has worked to tighten the terminology in recent years. That does not account for the lack of penalty flags.

This is a tricky situation for the league. It desires to increase game safety. But when games are taking place, this important safety regulation is not being followed. After the incident, there will be enforcement, and the players will pay a price.

What Is Guardian Caps Rule?

For a portion of training camp in 2022, the NFL mandated that all linemen, linebackers, and tight ends wear Guardian Caps, the soft-shell helmet coverings. Running backs are now included in the safety precautions throughout all preseason and regular season contact drills this year. According to NFL executive Jeff Miller, it’s also feasible that the Caps will one day be worn during games.

Running backs and fullbacks are now obliged to wear the Guardian Cap in addition to the previously mentioned linemen and linebackers, who play in position groupings where head contact is most frequently observed. Only the kicker, punter, quarterback, wide receiver, and defensive back are exempt from wearing the hats.

“I think the day could come,” Miller, who oversees NFL player health and safety, told Good Morning Football Thursday. “But at the same time, a lot of the helmets are also making advances, too, and so some of the protective benefits you get from the Guardian Cap hopefully will be seen in helmets in the next year or two.”

The Guardian Caps are cushioned, soft-shell layers intended to lessen impact to the hard shell, unlike helmets, which have an outer made of the high-strength material polycarbonate. The NFL discovered that players wearing the Caps saw considerably less concussions and general impacts during 2022 practices.

The Guardian Cap will absorb 11 to 12 per cent of the force from a helmet collision if one player is wearing it, according to research from the league. When a player hits another player while wearing a hat, the force of the collision is lessened by around 20%.

Hip Drop Tackle Explained

Leading up to the owners’ meeting in May, further research will be done on the hip drop tackle, which the league claims causes injuries at a rate 20 times higher than that of other tackles and results in more serious lower body injuries. If a rule is created, the league wants coaches to agree on what exactly counts as a hip drop tackle so that time can be spent training officials and players.

The tactic, which is comparable to the horse-collar tackle that was outlawed in 2005, was quite evident last season as defenders hauled ball-carriers to the ground and frequently landed with their entire bodies on the backs of their opponents’ legs.

One worry is that it would be extremely challenging for referees to accurately detect the tackle and be able to declare a foul in real-time. If a regulation is finally written down and accepted, the league anticipates that most of the first enforcement will take the form of warnings and fines after the game, with the majority of penalties being issued on tackles that take place outside of the box.

Since Super Bowl 57, the NFL’s competition committee has had significant conversations regarding the possibility of formulating a rule that would outlaw the kind of behind-the-back drag-down tackle, comparable to the now-illegal horse-collar technique, that has reportedly become an increasingly dangerous practice.

It’s interesting to note that the NFL Players Association’s leadership does not favor this prospective safety effort. In a statement issued at the beginning of March, the NFLPA opposed a ban on the tactic, calling it “unfair to players and unrealistic to implement.”

 

 

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