The NFL has followed through on its threat to eliminate the hip-drop tackle from professional football. On Monday morning, the league’s competition committee unanimously passed a ban on hip-drop tackles, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. It’s worth noting that fines are more expected than flags in legislation of this rule, but that doesn’t make things better. At all.
Never mind the likely byzantine application or the fact that hip-drop tackles are exceedingly rare, this is the league taking another step forward in over-protecting and overthinking what offensive skill players need. It’s a massive step against the spirit of the sport when a rare tackle is fervently removed, even when players are vehemently against it.
I don’t know about the long-term ramifications of the hip-drop being banned. But I do know it’s in line with the NFL’s precedent of pretending to care about player safety.
NFL players took to Twitter in disbelief while ripping the new hip-drop tackle ban.
