Hip-Drop Penalty Among Proposed Rule Changes

Under the proposed change, suggested by the NFL Competition Committee, a defender that "grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms and 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" will be charged with 15 yards and an automatic first down for the offense.

Penalizing hip-drop tackles has drawn a polarizing response: a report from Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports declares that "NFL officials believe they can correctly call the infraction" while defenders are tepid about another potentially costly penalty in a modern game that seemingly caters to high-scoring affairs and big games.

"I hate that Mark is hurt. Prayers for him. But at the end of the day, we play football," then-Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen said of Wilson's hit, per Ryan Mink of the official team site. "We play a tackling sport. I don't think a hip-drop tackle is that bad of a thing. How else do you want us to tackle? Just let the guy run past you?"

The hip-drop flag and other changes will require the approval of 24 owners to pass. Other proposed changes include a revamped kickoff procedure, turning an onside kick attempt into a 20-yard fourth down attempt (proposed by Philadelphia), and allowing missed delay-of-games to be reviewed.