The Horse-Collar Tackle and the Hip-Drop Tackle

By 4Football Staff · October 16, 2026 · 10 min read

Two tackling techniques that football has outlawed because of the injuries they cause: what each one looks like, how the rules define them, and how the penalties work.

A running back breaks into the open field with one defender left between him and the end zone. The defender catches him from behind, grabs a handful of the back of his jersey near the neck and yanks. The runner's feet go out from under him, his body twists, and he lands awkwardly on one leg. Sometimes he gets up. Sometimes the training staff comes out. Either way, a flag usually flies, because the tackle was almost certainly illegal.

That grab is the horse-collar tackle, and it has been outlawed in the NFL for many years. Its newer cousin, the hip-drop tackle, was added to the list of prohibited tackles by the NFL more recently, and other levels of football have been working out how to treat it. The two have a lot in common. Both look like ordinary wrap-up tackles at first glance. Both put sudden, unnatural force on a runner's lower body. And both are defined less by where the defender starts than by what he does with his body in the final half-second.

This article explains what each tackle looks like, how the rules describe them, why football's rule makers decided to remove them from the game, and what the penalties are. As always with rules, details differ between the NFL, college football and high school football, and rule books are revised often. We say plainly where we are not certain, and we point you to the official rule book for your level as the final authority.

Why tackles get banned in the first place

Football is a collision sport, and rule makers have never tried to remove tackling. They have tried to remove specific techniques that make an injury much more likely without making the tackle much more effective. The test goes roughly like this: if a tackle can be made safely in another way, and the dangerous version puts the ball carrier at risk in a way he cannot protect himself from, the rule makers have a reason to act.

Both of the tackles in this article meet that test. A defender who wants to stop a runner can wrap him up at the waist or legs, drive through the hips, pull him down by the shoulders, or rally with a teammate. The horse-collar and the hip-drop are shortcuts that depend on pulling or dropping weight onto a runner's legs rather than driving him backward or to the side. For a broader look at how football has regulated itself over time, see our history of safety rules in football.

The horse-collar tackle

What it is

The NFL's rule describes a horse-collar tackle as grabbing the inside collar of the back or side of the shoulder pads or jersey, and immediately pulling the runner toward the ground. The name comes from the shape of the grab. The tackler's hand hooks behind the runner's neck the way you would catch a horse by its collar.

Two features define it:

1. The grab is at the collar area, inside the back or side of the shoulder pads or jersey. Grabbing the jersey at the shoulder or the front is not the same thing.
2. The tackler pulls the runner back and down, and the runner's momentum and weight swing around the defender. The runner's feet may or may not be dragged.

The rule does not require the runner to fall. The foul is committed by the grab and pull, not by the result. If the tackler pulls the runner down by the collar and the runner stays on his feet for a step, officials can still flag it.

Why it is dangerous

When a runner is pulled backward by the collar at speed, his upper body is going one way and his legs are going another. The strain falls on the knees and ankles, and the runner has no way to prepare for the sudden change. There is also a risk to the neck, since the pull comes from behind the head.

History

The NFL adopted its ban in 2005. The prohibition is sometimes called the "Roy Williams rule," named for a safety whose tackles were associated with injuries before the change. Prohibitions on the technique have since appeared in college and high school rule books too, though the wording and the exact penalties are not identical, so check your own level's current text.

What is legal

Defenders have plenty of legal ways to grab a runner:

• Grabbing the jersey at the front or side of the body, or at the sleeve or arm.
• Wrapping both arms around the torso, waist or thighs.
• Pulling a runner down by the shoulders from the front.
• Holding the outside of the jersey rather than reaching inside behind the neck.

Our guide to tackling fundamentals describes the form that coaches teach: head up, eyes on the target, wrap and drive. Following those fundamentals makes a horse-collar essentially impossible.

The hip-drop tackle

What it is

The hip-drop tackle is the more recent addition to the list of banned tackles, and its definition is more technical. In an NFL description of the rule, the defender grabs the runner in a way that wraps him with both arms, then swivels his hips and lower body so that he drops his weight onto the runner's legs, ankles or knees from behind or the side. The defender is, in effect, "unweighting" himself and then using his body mass as a lever against the runner's lower legs.

The details that matter:

• The tackler wraps the runner with both arms or otherwise grabs him from behind or from the side.
• The tackler swivels his hips and drops, so that his weight lands on the runner's legs.
• The runner's legs are trapped under the tackler's weight, and the runner cannot easily protect his lower body.

The NFL competition committee proposed, and its owners approved, a ban on the hip-drop tackle in 2024. Rule makers at other levels have been dealing with the technique in their own ways, including emphasis for officials and changes to the rule books. If you are a player, coach or parent at the college or high school level, check the current rule book and any guidance your conference or state association has issued.

Why it matters

The league's stated reason for acting was concern about lower-leg injuries on this kind of tackle. We will not quote injury statistics here, because we cannot verify exact numbers across levels and years. What matters for the rule is the mechanism: a heavy defender lands on the lower legs of a runner whose feet are planted or whose body is turning. Lower-leg injuries from this kind of pinning can be serious.

The controversy

The ban is not universally popular, and the debate is worth knowing about.

• Supporters say that a clear prohibition protects players, and that a defender can always make a legal, safer tackle.
• Critics say that the definition is hard to apply at full speed, that there is little time to adjust once a tackle begins, and that a heavy defender may land on a runner's legs even when he did not intend to. Some players and coaches have also said that it is difficult to teach tacklers to avoid it while still tackling aggressively.

Officials are asked to judge whether the defender grabbed with both arms, swiveled and dropped. Because those three elements happen in a fraction of a second, there will be calls that fans and coaches disagree with. Replay generally cannot be used to review penalty judgment calls in the NFL, so a flag, or a lack of one, usually stands. For how replay is used in general, see our guide to what can and cannot be reviewed.

How the two tackles compare

The NFL penalty for a horse-collar tackle is 15 yards from the spot of the foul with an automatic first down for the offense. The hip-drop carries the same penalty in the NFL. For how those spots and first-down rules work, see our guide to penalty enforcement.

How officials decide

Officials make the call on the field based on a few cues. For the horse-collar, the cue is the hand: does it go behind the runner's neck or into the inside of the collar, and does the tackler pull? For the hip-drop, the cues are the swivel and the drop: does the defender rotate his hips and let his weight fall onto the runner's legs?

A few practical points:

• Both hands do not need to be involved in a horse-collar. A one-hand grab and a yank is enough.
• The runner does not need to be injured for either flag. The foul is the technique.
• Intent is not required. A tackler who reaches for a collar and pulls is flagged whether or not he meant to.
• The tackle must be on a runner. The horse-collar rule applies to a runner, a returner or a player who has the ball. Other rules apply to a quarterback in the pocket or a player without the ball, such as our guide to roughing the passer.

Our guide to the seven on-field officials explains which officials are in position to see tackles at the end of runs.

A worked example, with a hypothetical play

Imagine a second-and-8 and a runner who breaks through the line and cuts toward the sideline. A safety closes from behind and to the runner's left. In the first version, the safety's right hand reaches over the runner's shoulder, hooks inside the back of the pads near the neck and pulls. The runner's feet swing out and he goes down. That is a horse-collar: flag, 15 yards, automatic first down, and the runner's team keeps the yardage he gained plus the penalty, because the NFL measures the penalty from the spot of the foul.

In the second version, the safety wraps the runner's waist with both arms, steps in and drives his legs until the runner is on the ground, then falls on top of him. No flag. In the third version, the safety wraps both arms from behind, then swivels his hips and sits his weight onto the runner's legs as the runner's feet are planted. That is the hip-drop pattern, and in the NFL it is a flag even though the safety's arms started in a legal place.

The three plays can look similar on television at full speed. The differences are a hand behind the collar in the first, nothing unusual in the second, and the swivel and drop in the third. That is why slow-motion replay on television often shows what the officials saw in real time: not the tackle itself but the small movement that turned it into a foul.

What this means for players and coaches

If you are a defender, the practical advice is simple and consistent with what good coaches teach in any case.

1. Aim for the torso, not the neck. Wrap at the waist or hips and let your body drive through the runner.
2. Keep your head up. A tackler with his head up sees what he is doing, and sees the runner's direction.
3. Finish with leg drive. The drive from your legs, not a pull or a drop, should bring the runner down.
4. If you cannot make the tackle cleanly, use help. A teammate arriving at an angle is safer than a risky one-on-one grab.

If you coach youth or high school football, practice the tackle on tackling dummies and in controlled drills, and teach your players the names of these fouls so they recognize them. Check your league or state association for the tackling teaching standards it uses; many publish them, and some require coaches to complete a course before the season.

What fans should know

For a fan, the practical value of knowing these rules is that you can predict a flag when you see a defender grab at the back of the neck of a ball carrier or swivel behind a runner and drop. When the flag comes, it is a 15-yard penalty in the NFL and an automatic first down. You can follow games on the live scores page and find any team's schedule and results from the teams section.

If you are a parent of a young player, ask the coach how tackling is taught and which tackles the league prohibits. Youth leagues are not all the same. Some prohibit tackling techniques that higher levels permit, and some use modified rules for the youngest ages. The Play section of this site is a place to start if you are looking for recreational football.

Players hurt in tackling should be evaluated by a doctor or an athletic trainer, not by a coach or an article. If a player has a lower-leg or knee injury, follow medical guidance on when to return. For head injuries, our explanation of the concussion protocol describes how the NFL handles the process.

The short version

• The horse-collar tackle is grabbing the inside back or side collar of a runner's pads or jersey and pulling him down. The NFL banned it in 2005.
• The hip-drop tackle is wrapping a runner and swiveling the hips to drop weight on his lower legs. The NFL banned it in 2024; other levels treat it differently, so check the current rule book.
• Both penalties in the NFL are 15 yards plus an automatic first down.
• The foul is the technique, not the injury, and intent is not required.
• Legal alternatives are wrapping the torso, tackling from the front and using leg drive.
• The rules on hip-drop tackles are newer and more debated, so confirm the current wording at your level.