The National Football League has handed out fines to seven players for hip-drop tackles this season, but according to league executive vice president Troy Vincent, no infractions have occurred in the last couple of weeks. Speaking to reporters at the NFL owners meetings in Atlanta, Vincent praised the cooperation between coaches and players in identifying potential violations.
“Coaches and the players have been outstanding with sending in video, whether it’s their own club without the player making the tackle or something in another game,” Vincent explained, as reported by NFL Media.
Despite the fines, officials have not yet penalized any players during a game for a hip-drop tackle, a situation that Vincent and others predicted early on due to the difficulty in officiating such tackles.
Vincent revealed that there have been around 22 questionable tackles this season, though none have met the strict four-point criteria required for a penalty. This news may come as a relief to Texans running back Joe Mixon, who has been vocal in his criticism of officials failing to penalize offenders. Mixon sustained an injury from a hip-drop tackle in Week 2, causing him to miss three games. Chicago Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards, however, received a relatively low fine of $16,883 for a similar tackle, a decision that Mixon believes does not accurately reflect the potential danger of the move.
According to Vincent, proper officiating of the hip-drop tackle requires a careful evaluation of all four elements involved. “It’s just so important that all four of the elements show up,” Vincent emphasized. “Reviewing that after the game, some of us have just a better feel and an eye for when those things occur. If there’s not an unweighting and trapping of the legs, you’ve got to stay away from it. But that’s during the week. It gives us and many others the opportunity to evaluate so one player is not penalized for something that didn’t occur, especially in real time with all things kind of look the same.”
As the season progresses, players and officials will undoubtedly continue to scrutinize and evaluate the hip-drop tackle to ensure player safety and fair play on the field.
