What is a hip-drop tackle and why has it been banned in the NFL?
If there is one issue that has taken center stage in recent seasons, it’s the hip-drop tackle. With that in mind, the NFL has finally moved to address it.
This past weekend, the NFL made changes to its playing rules ahead of the 2024-25 season. Among them is one in particular that will likely garner a whole lot of conversation going forward. Regardless, the league has made its move. Now, we can only unpack what that means for football fans going forward.
NFL changes rules for 2024 including hip-drop tackle
According to reports on Monday, the NFL adopted three new playing rules that will go into effect from the start of the 2024 season. Here are the three rules approved by the league at the Annual League Meeting on Monday:
- By Detroit; an amendment to Rule 15, Section 1, Article 1, to protect a club’s ability to challenge a third ruling following one successful challenge.
- By the Competition Committee; an amendment to Rule 14, Section 5, Article 2, to make allowance for enforcement of a major foul by the offense, prior to a change of possession in a situation where there are fouls by both teams.
- By the Competition Committee; an amendment to Rule 12, Section 2, to eliminate a potentially dangerous tackling technique.
What do the NFL rule changes mean?
Where that last one is concerned, we can assume that we’re talking about the hip-drop tackle or as defined in the meeting, a foul that occurs when a player uses the following technique to bring a runner to the ground: “Grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg at or below the knee.” As per the new rules, “The penalty will be considered unnecessary roughness, which will be 15 yards and an automatic first down.”
Where the other two rule changes are concerned, it’s now clear that the league is attempting to streamline play, while simultaneously attempting to increase transparency. To that end, the third challenge will now see a team “permitted a third challenge if it is successful on at least one or both of its challenges.” Further to that, “If a team wins both challenges, a fourth challenge will not be permitted.” If you didn’t know, the maximum amount of challenges allotted to a team in a game is three.
Regarding the other alteration, we’ve got the ‘double foul.’ As per the league, “If the team last in possession does not have ‘clean hands’ when it establishes possession, the penalties offset, and the down is replayed at the previous spot.” The term “Clean hands” refers to having no infringements. The new rule then goes further in stating that, “If both teams foul after the last change of possession (double foul after change of possession), or the offense commits an unnecessary roughness or an unsportsmanlike conduct foul before the change of possession, the penalties are offset, and the team last in possession shall retain the ball at the spot where its foul would be enforced if it was the only foul.”