Bleacher Bums Forum

well this takes one team out of OL moves in the 2nd... they will go TE.

Thats one one he's been waiting on... so he should be agreeing to a 151 million 101 mill guaranteed contract shortly.

Too funny, but not surprising:

Josh Rosen gets first team snaps at Cardinals OTAs.  Sam Bradford given a day off and Mike Glennon vomited on the field (he actually did vomit that's not a euphemism for his play)

I've been thinking about this whole anthem issue, why not let the players wear some pendant or ribbon or something to show their support for their cause and then stand for the anthem. The NFL could even come up with the design and sell it to the public and raise money to help the cause.

The Eagles Are Confused By The NFL's Confusing New Helmet Rule

During the presentation, which lasted close to an hour according to Bradham, players were shown clips of what are now considered illegal hits — some of which appeared to them as routine tackles.  Seeking further clarification during the Q&A that followed, the players showed the presenters a video of safety Malcolm Jenkins’ hit on wide receiver Brandin Cooks during Super Bowl LII that knocked Cooks out of the game. The refs were split on whether it would now be considered an illegal hit.

Said linebacker Nigel Bradham, “We were trying to ask questions to get a better understanding, and yet they couldn’t really give us an answer. They couldn’t give us what we were looking for.”

“[The refs] were kind of like, ‘Hey, we didn’t make the rules.’ Because I think guys were kind of frustrated,” running back Wendell Smallwood added. “Most of the defense was like, ‘Man, how are we supposed to tackle?’ They were frustrated.”

From the Trib

As Bears inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski watched the NFL’s 2018 rules changes video Saturday night, he noticed a trend in the montage of tackles that will be considered illegal under the new rule that prohibits a player from initiating contact with his helmet.

“Some of the plays don’t look like anything vicious,” Kwiatkoski said. “It looks like a normal play to me.”

NFL video on helmet rule

It turns out — wow — he’s right. Veteran referee Walt Coleman played the video for reporters Monday, and some of these newly-prohibited tackles seem entirely ordinary. So common, in fact, that the ramifications could be seismic.

This subset of tackles goes beyond the obviously illegal hits in which a player launches himself like a missile into an opponent, like Danny Trevathan’s suspension-earning head shot on Devante Adams. That blow appeared in the video as an example of a hit that will result in an ejection.  In addition to those, there are now illegal hits that seem to result from incidental or unavoidable contact the tackler initiates with his helmet.  The new rule reads, simply: “It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.” The contact doesn’t have to be helmet-to-helmet, and it applies to offensive and defensive players just the same.  Suddenly, parts of a routine play could be illegal, drawing a 15-yard penalty. That has left coaches, players and even game officials anxious this preseason to see how the rule will be enforced.

“In the past, it has just been football for us,” said Coleman, who’s entering his 30th NFL season. “Now, it has gone from being a regular football play to being a foul. So, it’s going to be how fast do the players adjust, and how fast do we adjust that that is a foul? It’s going to be a challenge.”

Good tackling technique involves tackling with your head up not with the crown of the helmet.  Blindly ramming your head into an opponent with your head down leads to head and neck injuries for the tackler not to mention injuries to unintended targets (see Kyle Fuller's whiff tackle that took out Leonard Floyd).

I think its a good rule as long as they flag it only in obvious situations.

Save the hitting/tackling for the preseason games.  Too much money tied up in these guys to get injured in training camp.