The tackle that ended Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin’s 2024 season was a play the NFL strove to reduce this offseason.
On Friday, the NFL fined Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith $16,833 for what it deemed a “hip-drop tackle” on Godwin. Per the NFL, a hip-drop tackle occurs when a defender “wraps up a ball carrier and rotates or swivels his hips, unweighting himself and dropping onto the ball carrier’s legs during the tackle.” The league banned the hip-drop tackle in March, saying it causes lower-body injuries at a rate 20 times higher than other tackles.
In Godwin’s case, he suffered a dislocated ankle, which required surgery and ended his 2024 season.
If a hip-drop tackle is called on the field, it will be met with a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down. But referees are only supposed to throw a flag if the hip-drop tackle is witnessed in real time. This has resulted in multiple players receiving fines for the illegal tackle despite not being flagged during the game. According to Spotrac, Smith is the 10th player to be fined for the infraction this season.
Smith, who declined to discuss a potential fine Thursday, said he had no intentions to injure Godwin on the tackle.
“You never want to see anybody go down with any type of injury, but we play a very physical game, and it demands a lot,” he said. “Bullets are flying pretty fast, but I never go into any game to injure any player. I want every player to go back home safe and sound to their family — maybe a little sore — but other than that, I definitely want you to get back home to your family all safe and sound.”
When the hip-drop tackle ban was introduced, it elicited mixed reactions from players. The NFL Players Association expressed disappointment with the ban, and former pass rusher J.J. Watt tweeted, “Just fast forward to the belts with flags on them.”
Three-time Pro Bowler Kyle Long was a bit more optimistic about the change.
Im happy the hip drop tackle is outta the game. I’m all for the league trying to minimize the potential for serious injury. This league has a 100 percent rate of injury but the hip drop tends to be the cause of injuries that are harder to come back from. Good job NFL
— kyle (@Ky1eLong) March 25, 2024
Godwin’s injury was not the first to come after a hip-drop tackle.
On the opening drive of the Ravens’ 2023 Week 11 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, Ravens tight end Mark Andrews’ season drastically changed. Andrews caught a pass from Lamar Jackson at the Bengals’ 10-yard line as linebacker Logan Wilson wrapped Andrews around his hips and rolled up his left leg.
Wilson got up with his hands spread away from his body as if he knew he had tackled Andrews incorrectly. He looked down at Andrews as he writhed in pain on the ground. Andrews was immediately helped off the field and later diagnosed with a fractured left fibula and ligament damage in his left ankle.
Shortly after suffering the injury, Andrews wasn’t opposed to the hip-drop tackle being abolished but also didn’t believe Wilson’s tackle was intentional.
“If they want to ban the tackle, (that’s) fine, but I’m going to go out there and play hard no matter what,’ Andrews said. “I don’t blame the guy. He’s just playing ball.”
Required reading
- NFL bans swivel hip-drop tackle at league owners’ meetings
- Safe or ‘stupid’? NFL stakeholders defend, condemn controversial hip-drop tackle ban
(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
