Allen Park — One of the biggest stories of the offseason was the league deciding to ban hip-drop tackles, which is, as defined by the NFL, "when a defender wraps up a ball carrier and rotates or swivels his hips, unweighting himself and dropping onto ball carrier's legs during the tackle."
In the past, it's been a fairly common action to see throughout the course of an NFL game. But now, it'll be a 15-yard penalty, which has led some to worry about how the infraction is called, and there's already significant concern about a game-deciding drive being extended by what some defenders believe is a natural way to take down a ball carrier.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Tuesday the team is already teaching against the tackle.
Here’s the video the NFL just showed in a press conference of what are now banned swivel hip-drop tackles (with NFL executive Jeff Miller speaking in the background). pic.twitter.com/Y4H8h6pQkW
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 25, 2024
"The league has sent out a video and of course it's the worst of the worst, these things, you know the ones they show on there. Our guys know, we talked about it in the spring," Campbell said.
"We know that you have to get your head across, you have to continue to run your feet. Absolutely it's something that we've talked about that, we're not teaching that. It is a point of emphasis."
Through analyzation of more than 20,000 tackles over the last two seasons, the NFL has determined the hip-drop tackle causes lower-body injuries at a rate of 20 times higher than other tackles. The action is defined by two things: The defender grabbing the runner with both hands or wrapping the runner with both arms, and the defender unweighting himself "by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner's leg(s) at or below the knee."
Several significant injuries due to the hip-drop tackle occurred during the 2023 season, including to Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, who missed two months with an ankle injury and a cracked fibula, and New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who was knocked out for the season in Week 13 with an ankle sprain.
NFL clubs in March voted unanimously to remove the tackle, much to the chagrin of defensive players and the football community at large.
But at this point, the only option is to accept the new circumstances and teach against it.
"Look, the only way to avoid it is to work on tackling," Campbell said. "You have to work on some of these things, tackling, because it's not fair to your guys if you don't. You just react and you're back in, 'Whatever it takes to get the guy down.' So, listen, this league has always been about adjusting. This is a new rule, our guys will adjust, and we'll be just fine."
