Patriots star says the quiet part out loud about NFL's bold new rule change

News flash: it is unbelievably difficult to play in the NFL. There are 32 teams in the league, with 53 players on each active roster. Every year, over 200 more players are drafted. Dozens more are signed as undrafted free agents. Even for players that are fortunate enough to make it to the league, the experience is often short-lived, as the average NFL career length is less than four years.

Take that difficulty and multiply it exponentially to understand how impossible it is to play defense as an NFL player. Defenders need to chase down Tyreek Hill and wrap up Derrick Henry in the open field. They need to sack Josh Allen and shed the blocks of Trent Williams. They have to out-think Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan. Here are just a few of the things defenders can’t do to accomplish those goals.

They can’t hit a quarterback in the head, but they also can’t hit him below the knees. If they do manage to sack the quarterback, they can’t fall on him with all of their weight. They can’t touch a receiver that’s more than five yards downfield or hit a “defenseless” receiver that catches a ball over the middle. They can’t make a blindside block after an interception. They can’t tackle a ballcarrier by using his facemask or by grabbing the inside of his collar. Running afoul of these rules could result in penalty yardage, a fine, or even a suspension.

Now there’s a new addition to the “can’t” list, as the NFL has approved a rule change to ban the hip-drop tackle for this upcoming season. Click the link for a great explanation of what exactly that is from Mike Florio and Chris Simms of PFT Live.

The NFL has argued, much as it did in outlawing low hits to the quarterback and horse-collar tackles, that banning the hip-drop tackle is the best move to make in the name of player safety. Florio and Simms echo that sentiment above, but what the rule fails to take into account is that with every passing season, there are fewer and fewer legal ways for defenses to stop opposing offenses.

Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers speaks out on controversial hip drop tackle rules

Jabrill Peppers of the New England Patriots is one of many NFL defenders that have spoken out in frustration about this rule change.

Peppers is right to be concerned. The NFL has been legislating away the ability to play defense for years, and this is just the latest, but almost certainly not the last, result of that. He also brings up another great point, which is how can officials be trusted to enforce the new rule correctly when they already do such a poor job with the current rules? The disparity in penalty calls from one crew to another, plus the prominent examples every single week of botched calls in high-leverage situations, don’t inspire much faith that referees can handle even more on their plate.

The NFLPA has echoed this, saying, “The players oppose any attempt by the NFL to implement a rule prohibiting a ‘swivel hip-drop’ tackle,” the NFLPA said in a statement last week. “While the NFLPA remains committed to improvements to our game with health and safety in mind, we cannot support a rule change that causes confusion for us as players, for coaches, for officials, and especially, for fans. We call on the NFL, again, to reconsider implementing this rule.”

With the proliferation of season-ending injuries and CTE, it makes sense that the NFL should care about player safety. Why then, doesn’t the league mandate that all teams play on grass, which has been proven to be much safer than artificial surfaces? It seems like a weekly occurrence that we lose a star player to a non-contact injury on an artificial field, but despite a vocal contingent of current and former players calling for change, the NFL hasn’t acted.

Injuries, unfortunately, are always going to be a part of the game. Football is a fast, physical, violent sport played by some of the best athletes on the planet. This isn’t to say that we should ignore player safety, not at all. But there has to be a balance between protecting players and allowing them to compete on an even playing field. There are inherent risks to playing, and injuries sustained to players such as Mark Andrews and Tony Pollard (both of which came on hip-drop tackles last year) can’t outweigh the reality that defenders in the NFL are playing with the deck stacked against them at all times. This is only going to make it worse.