The NFL has put an extra emphasis on player safety in recent years, introducing new penalties and instituting fines and suspensions to punish repeat offenders. This upcoming season, the league and the NFLPA have voted to place a greater emphasis on five penalties with a new fine and suspension structure.
The five penalties to watch this season are:
- Hip drop tackle
- Horse collar tackle
- Launching
- Hit on a Defenseless Player
- Blindside block
Any player who commits three offenses in any one of these categories during the season will be suspended for one game. If a player commits just one of these violations, they will receive 50% of their fine back at the end of the year. However, violations in any of these five categories will carry forward to subsequent seasons.
The NFL says all players are beginning 2026 with a "clean slate" and will have a "clearer and faster path to reducing the impact of prior offenses than under the previous system."
The league is also eyeing what it describes as "shared accountability." Not only are teams with "excessive" health and safety rules violations subject to increased financial penalties, but coaches of players approaching the new suspension threshold are now required to join their players in meetings with the NFL.
The league still has its former player panel that hears appeals from current players, but this year a coach has been added. That is Ron Rivera, who played nine seasons with the Chicago Bears from 1984-92 and spent 13 years as a head coach for the Carolina Panthers and Washington.
While the hip drop penalty is officially a "penalty," it is rarely enforced in the moment. According to NFLpenalties.com, just three hip drop penalties have been called in the two years since the rule was implemented. Those who commit hip drop tackles are usually fined after the fact. A total of 28 illegal blindside blocks were flagged in 2025, along with four horse collar tackles.
"The goal is simple: make the game safer by focusing discipline on the techniques most likely to result in player injury rather than players who make isolated mistakes during competition," the league said in its statement.
