Not a lot of current players have actively spoken in favor of banning the hip-drop tackle, but those who have, like Baltimore Ravens TE Mark Andrews, have usually found themselves on the wrong end of one. The All-Pro missed eight weeks last season after suffering an injury from a hip-drop tackle in Week 11. He only returned to play in the conference finals, missing the first two rounds of the postseason (including a bye).
Andrews also missed the final six games of the regular season, if which the Ravens won the five in which they aimed to compete. Their only loss came in the finale after already securing the top seed. But the tight end also missed the Divisional Round, out a full two months in real time. Accordingly, he recent comments about the hip-drop tackle are understandable.
“I’m always an advocate for making the game safer”, he said, via transcript from the team’s website. “You look at the last maybe five years, there’s been a lot of big injuries with that. So, just bringing the awareness to that type of tackle I think is good. Keeping guys healthy is going to be great. Taking that tackle out of the game is not a bad thing, I don’t think. I think the defenses can find a way to get around that”.
The NFL banned the hip-drop tackle earlier this offseason after struggling to define it. Many players have been outspoken in their opposition to the decision, largely defensive players, but we have also seen offensive players question the merits of removing the tackling technique. The argument is that in some situations you have to decide between a hip-drop tackle and letting the player go.
Mark Andrews is far from the only notable player injured by a hip-drop tackle, however. The Pittsburgh Steelers are somewhat sensitive to the issue, for example. Before they came up with a name for it, they lost RB Le’Veon Bell to a knee injury from such a tackle a number of years ago. Steelers president Art Rooney II went out of his way to make that point after the league announced the decision.
The concern with hip-drop tackles is that the momentum often carries the weight of the defender across the lower extremities of the ball-carrier. As we saw with Andrews and others, this greatly increases the rate of injury in comparison to more conventional tackles.
Andrews is surely not alone, particularly among offensive players, about feeling some relief about the NFL eliminating the hip-drop tackle. Even Steelers RB Jaylen Warren admitted that it’s better for him, even though he feels for defenders. Though now a Steeler, former teammate Patrick Queen defended the hip-drop tackle immediately following Andrews’ injury.
We will have to see, however, how the NFL officiates and polices the hip-drop tackle. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin suggested the league intends to do so more through the purse than via penalty. Players may respond better to the change by losing money than by losing yards.
