Rugby Legend Matty Johns Has A Clear Take On NFL Hip-Drop Tackle

The NFL is planning to outlaw a contentious action that has caused several player injuries in the course of the 2023 campaign. A player executes a hip-drop tackle when they grab the ball carrier, whirl around, and land on their backs to bring them to the ground. Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins and Mark Andrews of the Baltimore Ravens have both been injured in recent weeks as a result of the method. Well, a legendary rugby player Matty Johns isn’t in support of this either.

Rugby Legend Matty Johns Has A Clear Take On NFL Hip-Drop Tackle

Fox League guru and former Australian rugby player Matty Johns understands.

He understands why there is a strong effort under the direction of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to alter the contentious rules governing defenders’ tackles.

He saw the same thing occur in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL). The “hip-drop tackle” was leaving injured players all over the pitch.

with the previous season, league health and safety authorities thought about outlawing the technique, but with these most recent cases, the risk was too great to ignore. On December 13, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell informed club owners that the league will address the matter over the next offseason.

“We all should work to get that out of the game,” Goodell said at a news conference, per The Washington Post. “You see it escalated the number of times it occurred this season. The [potential] injury can be very devastating. We saw that also.”

Johns can see why the NFL should take the NRL’s lead after seeing these games.

However, he also understands that it won’t be easy to put this transformation into practice, especially at first.

“In the early days, there were some of the most mean-spirited things that I’ve ever seen,’’ Johns recalled. “Quite like the NFL, they’ve got a players union. My thing was, I thought that the players union should have stepped in and basically stopped players doing it to their fellow professionals.

“We’ve had some horrendous injuries from the hip-drop tackle. I know you guys had clipping and all that stuff back in the day. But the hip drop, it’s been bad. We’ve had guys that have had career-threatening injuries.’’

“Absolutely. Not a doubt in the world,’’ Johns told The Post. “What it’s doing is ruining people’s careers. It leads to really bad ACL injuries, broken legs, horrendous ankle injuries. So I think it’s a no-brainer.’’

The NFL’s senior vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, stressed how crucial it is to ban the contentious tackle from contests.

Vincent stated, “We have to now,” regarding the move’s prohibition. “A year ago when we actually brought the hip-drop or the version of the tackle that we were seeing on the video, there were some clubs who had no clue what we were thinking, what we were talking about.”

“It’s a gruesome play,” he added.

According to NFL Network, the tackle caused an ankle ligament damage and fractured Andrews’ fibula, which sparked requests for the lineman’s suspension by the league.

Not all defensive players agree with opponents who hip-drop, despite the fact that they have had to adapt to various safety rules in recent years that penalize play deemed risky.

How much does Matty Johns get paid?

$1.25m
NRL off-field rich list
Name Income Source
Andrew Abdo $1.55m (includes 50% bonus for meeting KPIs NRL CEO
Craig Bellamy $1.5m Melbourne Storm cocah
Phil Gould $1,3m Bulldogs/Nine
Matty Johns $1.25m Fox Sports/SEN

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