The NFL Competition Committee has not proposed a ban on hip-drop tackles. But that doesn’t mean the league doesn’t have a problem with the technique.
NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent said today that the league is continuing to consider a potential ban on hip-drop tackles, in which a defender grabs a ball carrier from behind and then pulls him down while dropping the tackler’s own body to the ground.
“The hip-drop tackle is something we’ll look at. Something we’ll continue, that discussion,” Vincent said. “We’re going to talk about this in Arizona with the coaches to see how do we remove this technique and behavior. It’s caused some significant injuries.”
Vincent said league research indicates hip-drop tackles are 20 times as likely to cause injuries as regular tackles.
“You see it tearing up ankles, knees, it can break legs. It’s something we need to examine,” Vincent said. “It is not an illegal tackle, but is there a new rule that we may need to consider writing up for it? All the mechanics of the horse collar you see it, and we’ve seen some players with some substantial injuries.”
So while the technique isn’t being banned right now, it seems likely that a ban could be coming if the league can figure out how to define a hip-drop tackle clearly and enforce a penalty consistently.