JJ Watt says NFL getting closer to flag football with recent rule change
NFL approved a ban on “swivel hip drop” tackles Monday, which would penalize defensive players for pulling offensive players to the ground with their bodies. While these tackles have resulted in some serious injuries, a lot of NFL players aren’t happy with the decision by the league, its owners and the competition committee.
Former Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt was among those to denounce the ban. He posted a message on social media that the NFL is trending toward becoming a flag football league.
“Just fast forward to the belts with flags on them …” Watt wrote.
Just fast forward to the belts with flags on them… https://t.co/yToh5XKVMS
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 25, 2024
Other players like Texans’ defensive back Lonnie Johnson Jr. called the rule change “BS” while Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Hollard wrote, “Breaking news: Tackling Banned.”
The NFL Players Association also denounced the decision. The NFLPA wrote in a statement Monday that “we cannot support a rule change that causes confusion for us as players, for coaches, for officials and especially, for fans” and asked the league to reconsider its stance on the rule change.
Our statement on the swivel hip-drop tackle. pic.twitter.com/8mzhjtPgKu
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) March 20, 2024
There were 230 tackles like the ones the league will ban, according to NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller. He added that 15 players missed time because of the tackle.
The biggest injury to come out of one of these tackles was to Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews. He suffered serious ankle injury that required surgery and forced Andrews to miss the next seven games before he could return in the AFC championship match. Andrews played just 18 snaps in that game.
Rich McKay says hip-drop ban passed unanimously. Interesting always, & especially after PA voiced concern over excess fining.
Ban is specifically for “swivel” version of hip-drop, not all versions, which will be hard to officiate consistently. Here are examples voters saw today: pic.twitter.com/XYWSxpQWe4
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) March 25, 2024
Here is the full rule, per NFL.com:
It is a foul if a player uses the following technique to bring a runner to the ground:
(a) grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and
(b) unweights 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.
Penalty: For a Hip-Drop Tackle: Loss of 15 yards and an automatic first down.
Competition committee chairman Rich McKay disagreed with the idea that this new rule would have unintended consequences, such as making tackling harder for players.
“Because this isn’t the elimination of hip-drop, this is an elimination of a swivel technique that doesn’t get used very often. When it is used, it is incredibly injurious to the runner — the runner is purely defenseless,” McKay said. “I’ve heard defenders say before and I hear them — ‘Hey, you’re putting me in a really tough spot, you’re saying I can’t hit here and what do I do?’ My response has as always been, ‘Well, you can’t do that.’ That’s just because the guy you’re hitting is defenseless, has no way to protect himself. So, we’ve got to protect him.
“You’ve got to come up with other ways and you know what, they do. Yes, we outlawed the hip-drop, but what you may think are the drag-from-behind where he falls on the – that’s still a tackle. This is only that tackle where the player is lifting themselves in the air and then falling on the legs.”
McKay also acknowledged that it could be tough for referees to officiate in the first year.
“This will be a hard one to call on the field, you have to see every element of it,” he said. “We want to make it a rule so we can deal on the discipline during the week.”
