NFL bans swivel hip-drop tackle at league owners’ meetings

ORLANDO — The NFL’s competition committee achieved one of two major objectives of the offseason Monday when NFL owners voted at the annual league meetings to ban the swivel hip-drop tackle — a technique that league officials have deemed a great threat to player safety. According to the agreed upon specific criteria of the now-illegal technique, a swivel hip-drop tackle takes place when a player: Grabs a runner with both hands/arms while attempting to make a tackle “Unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body” And then lands on and traps the runner’s leg at or below the knee Such a tackle will result in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down, according to the NFL. That’s what we’re trying to drive is participation, whether it’s a girls’ flag, boys’ flight or high school football and we think health and safety plays a big part in that.” McKay said that every team will receive educational videos that show players the differences between league hip-drop tackles and the illegal swivel hip-drop tackle. The NFL has spent the last two years studying the XFL’s kickoff allignment, and special teams coaches have spent the offseason working to find a similar allignment that would best benefit the league.