What Is A Hip-Drop Tackle? NFL Rule Changes for 2024

The NFL accomplished a significant offseason goal on Monday, March 25. The competition committee voted unanimously to ban a dangerous tackling move.

While this isn’t exactly going to alter the NFL odds market or anything, it is a major offseason talking point that will invite questions from casual fans and be mentioned in games this fall. 

The technique, which has grown in popularity in recent years, is known as a swivel hip-drop tackle. 

What Is a Hip-Drop Tackle?

An illegal hip-drop tackle occurs when a defender attempts a tackle with the following components:

• The tackler makes contact with and grabs a ball carrier with one or both hands/arms
• The tackler then “unweights” himself, meaning he shifts the weight out of his hips and lower body
• The tackler drops his own body to the ground, dragging the ball carrier down as well
• Rather than letting the ground absorb his fall, the tackling player drops his body weight directly onto the ball carrier’s legs (or other body part)

For those who need a visual aid, here’s a quick look at what this can look like at full speed. It’s actually a rugby-based explanation, but the concept is exactly the same across both sports, and rugby was the first sport to ban the technique. 

Hip Drop Tackle (YouTube)

New Tackle Rule: NFL Had to Take Action Against Hip-Drop Tackles

It didn’t take long for the NFLPA and many football fans to weigh in against the rule change. To some, the hip-drop tackle ban looks like the further softening of a sport that is inherently violent. 

Many fans and players will tell you that football will always be violent, and rule changes can’t fix that. It only lessens the product.

That may be true to some extent, but hip-drop tackles and other crude defensive methods have been increasingly relied upon in recent years as the NFL has tried to legislate headhunting and helmet-to-helmet contact out of the game. 

The understandable rush to minimize concussions has led to unintended consequences like the hip-drop tackle.

That said, it’s worth noting that, even after this rule change, the hip-drop tackle is still only illegal when the defensive player lands on the ball-carrier. A similar tackle where the defender lands safely on the ground but otherwise follows the elements of a hip-drop tackle remains legal.

In that way, this new tackle rule is reminiscent of recent tweaks to the Roughing the Quarterback rule. The intention of the rule is to minimize injury risk for offensive players by disincentivizing defensive players from landing their body weight on the offensive player. 

Hip-Drop Tackle Injuries

NFL officials allegedly saw more than 200 instances of now-illegal hip-drop tackles last season. The total was up more than 60% from the previous season, confirming that the dangerous style was growing very quickly among defensive players.

According to the NFL, there were 15 hip-drop tackles in 2023 that caused players to miss at least one game as a result of the injury they suffered during the tackle. Those injured players included Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, and Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith. 

At that rate, you can see why the rule change was unanimously voted by the competition committee.