The NFL Players Association is trying to outlaw an acrobatic special-teams maneuver the New England Patriots have employed multiple times in recent years.
The move in question: the leaping field-goal block, which involves a defensive player timing the snap and vaulting over the offensive line. The NFLPA is trying to convince the league’s competition committee such plays are dangerous and should be outlawed.
“The jumping over on the field goal, I think, is just leading to a really dangerous play for everybody,” Cincinnati Bengals tackle and NFLPA president Eric Winston told The Washington Post. “If you jump over the center, the jumper is in a really bad spot. He can land on his head. I think the guys that are getting jumped over are going to end up getting hurt, with those guys landing on them.
“So I’ll be very interested to see what they’ll do there. I think something probably needs to be done.”
Winston and other NFLPA representatives sat down with league officials Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine to discuss the issue. Winston said the league is “probably on board” with making such actions illegal.
“(It’s) just becoming a really, really dangerous play and now especially because everyone’s on the lookout for it, right?” Winston told the Post. “So someone’s ankles are going to get clipped. They’re going to go ass over teakettle, and either someone’s going to get landed on or he’s going to fall on his head.
“And they’re really bad injuries, too. It’s not like, ‘Oh, he could sprain his ankle.’ Those are neck injuries. Those are bad knee injuries. We expressed that to them, and I hope they follow through on that.”
Former Patriots linebacker Jamie Collins successfully pulled off the maneuver during a 2015 game against the Indianapolis Colts, and Shea McClellin used it this season to block a Baltimore Ravens field goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRAhkNegAHg
McClellin tried the move again in Super Bowl LI but was flagged — a poor call by the officials.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
