Helmet Rule 'Absurd': Past and Present Players Blast Proposed Rule Change
A top NFL running back is criticizing the league after a new "helmet" rule was introduced by league officials.
Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte took to Twitter to air his grievances against a newly proposed rule that would target running backs and other ball carriers should they lower their helmet to initiate a hit against opposing defenders.
The rule was being floated during the NFL's competition committee during meetings that are currently underway in Arizona with league officials.
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"The proposed rule change for running backs might be the most absurd suggestion of a rule change I've ever heard of," Matt Forte (@MattForte22) wrote on March 17.
Forte added that with all of the changes that professional football has considered and implemented in past decades, including the very controversial "tuck rule," ball carriers should have the opportunity to protect themselves at all times.
"The proposed rule change for running backs might be the most absurd suggestion of a rule change I've ever heard of … in order to lower ur shoulder u obviously have to lower ur head. It's a way of protecting ur self from a tackler and a way to break tackles," Forte added.
He added that it is an instinctive move to lower the head and square the shoulders in the face of an oncoming tackle, insisting that some measures or aspects of the game cannot be controlled with new rules and the natural flow of the game must be maintained.
"U can't change the instinctive nature of running the football,' Forte tweeted.
But, Forte is not alone in his critique of the league, both present and former players have voiced strong opposition to the proposed rule.
"If I'm a running back and I'm running into a linebacker, you're telling me I have to keep my head up so he can take my chin off? You've absolutely lost your mind," Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, told Dallas radio's 105.3 The Fan during a recent appearance.
