The big news coming out of the NFL’s annual league meetings today is that the league has moved to ban hip drop tackles. This is something the league has discussed for years in the name of ‘player’s safety’, but has finally gotten enough support to move forward with the motion. Predictably, the reaction from some of the league’s defenders has been less than enthusiastic.
Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith has shared his thoughts on the matter on X (formerly Twitter), and has given some interesting perspectives on the move.
As a human: mostly indifferent
As a business person:
The NFL is protecting the merchandise. National audience tunes in to see offense. Further protect offensive players/potentially weaken tackling attempts(win-win)As Hitman: Dislike, more defensive fines, true sport weakens https://t.co/NL65TPWlFU
— Harrison Smith (@harrismith22) March 25, 2024
Smith posts that as a human, he’s mostly indifferent to the move, and that he understands the league wanting to “protect the merchandise” from a business perspective. He goes on to say that as a “Hitman”, the move to ban this tackling technique weakens the sport and will lead to more fines for defensive players.
This tackling technique, typically a technique used by defenders attempting to tackle a runner from behind, has led to a number of high-profile injuries in recent years, which has spear-headed the movement to ban the tackle from the game.[lawrence-related id=92388,92385,92382,92378,92376,92369,92190,92368,92362,92360]