The New NFL Helmet Rule Confusion

Now, after hearing the backlash from several players, the league is attempting to bring more clarity to the the rule so that the NFL community has a better understanding of what kinds of hits can result in a penalty and/or an ejection.

To be ejected, a player has to lower “his helmet to establish a linear body posture prior to initiating and making contact with the the helmet,” a player needs to have “an unobstructed path to his opponent,” and the contact has to be “clearly avoidable” in the sense that the “player delivering the blow had other options.” But the intent of the rule is to priortize player safety, and it’s tough to argue against player safety after seeing countless players — including Ryan Shazier last year — get seriously injured when they’ve lowered their head.

“This one technique, we saw so many hits when a player lowered his head and delivered a hit and either hurt himself or the player he was hitting.