Last week, Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell received a $15,930 fine for a hip- drop tackle against the Carolina Panthers. This week, it was DJ Wonnum who was fined for the same infraction, costing him $12,611 out of his paycheck.
As we explained in the story about Campbell’s penalty, there’s more concern than just a fine for players who committed a hip-drop tackle. A hip-drop tackle is one of five fouls that are considered “major,” and would result in a one-game fine if repeated a total of three
times, per an NFL rule that was implemented this year. The other fouls that fall under this category are horse collar tackle, launching, hit on a defenseless player, and a blindside block.
Here’s the wording of the new NFL rule.
Players who commit three offenses in any of these categories during a season will be suspended for one game. Players who commit only one violation will receive 50 percent of their fine back at the end of the season.
As for the hip-drop tackle, here’s video of Wonnum’s penalty, which is clearly a foul:
The three parts to a hip-drop tackle are: grab the runner with both hands, unweights by swiveling their body around, then landing on the player’s legs below the knee. Wonnum clearly does all three of those things to Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett. But like the Campbell foul last week, there was no penalty flag throw on the play live.
No other Lions players were fined for the Cardinals game, but Cardinals running back Elijah Higgins was fined $20,411 for the use of his helmet.
