Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles weighs in on NFL’s controversial hip-drop tackle ban

Most NFL defenders may not like the NFL’s controversial choice to ban the hip-drop tackle, but Todd Bowles, a former NFL cornerback and current head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is all in favor of the new ban. Despite having an obvious interest in his defense’s ability to do its job, Bowles told Rich Eisen this week that the hip-drop is a move the league needed to get out of the game.

“For us, it’s not going to be a big problem because we didn’t teach it to begin with, and we try not to do it, and we don’t condone it at all,” Bowles said on the Rich Eisen Show. “I think it’s great to get out of the game. I think it just brings more awareness to when some people are trying to get down and I don’t think it’ll be a problem for our team.

“Nobody tries to do it. Nobody wants to do it. I think it should be banned from the game. I think it just brings more awareness to it. But as far as we’re concerned, we don’t teach it and we try not to do it at all.”

Though Bowles wants the hip-drop tackle removed from the game, like competition committee chair Rich McKay acknowledges after the approval of the new ban, the league could have enforcement issues. The former defensive coordinator outlined a scenario in which a hip-drop tackle potentially changes the outcome of a game.

“I think it’ll be interesting in the league if somebody’s at the end of a ball game and someone’s trying to get out of bounds, and somebody runs a crossing route, and somebody’s chasing them from behind and tries to keep them in bounds,” Bowles said. “That will be very interesting.”

NFL bans hip-drop tackle following spate of injuries

Following the league’s approval of the ban, a hip-drop tackle penalty will now result in a loss of 15 yards and an automatic first down for the opposing team. Here is the NFL Competition Committee’s amendment to Rule 12, Section 2 of the NFL rule book:

“Article 18. Hip-drop tackle. It is a foul if a player uses the following technique to bring a runner to the ground:
(a) grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and
(b) unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.”

There are a number of examples of injuries occurring on hip-drop tackles within the last two seasons. Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson‘s season ended in Week 13 this year after he suffered a high-ankle sprain as a result of the hit by Chargers defender Tuli Tuipulotu. Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews also suffered a season-ending lower leg injury on an apparent hip-drop tackle on Thursday Night Football.