/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58563339/usa_today_10557577.0.jpg)
“Targeting” isn’t a part of the NFL rulebook yet, but it could be soon.
By Adam Stites Updated Feb 4, 2018, 7:22pm EST
Unlike college football, the NFL doesn’t have a “targeting” rule — for now, at least — but the unnecessary roughness rules provide offensive players with essentially the same exact protections.
The biggest difference is that targeting in college football results in an automatic ejection and 15-yard penalty, while unnecessary roughness is just a 15-yard penalty in the NFL.
In March 2017, the NFL added a provision that allowed for immediate ejections for dangerous helmet-to-helmet hits — mirroring college football’s targeting rule — but it seemingly wasn’t applied at all by officials.
When the league’s competition committee meets this spring, it’s expected to discuss the addition of an automatic ejection: The final piece that would make college football’s targeting rule a part of the NFL.
The violations that are considered targeting in college football fall under the unnecessary roughness umbrella in the NFL.
Things like a hit out of bounds or a late hit on a sliding quarterback would draw an unnecessary roughness penalty, but wouldn’t be an example of a targeting penalty that results in an ejection.
Targeting is limited to cases of illegal contact to an opponent’s head or neck area.
Helmets collide on every play in football, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. Even making a tackle often results in a completely legal collision of helmets because ball carriers often lean forward or duck their head before impact.
In Super Bowl 52, New England Patriots receiver Brandin Cooks was taken to the locker room after a brutal helmet-to-helmet hit left him motionless on the turf. It did not draw a penalty, because he had established himself as a runner.
Note 1: “Targeting” means that a player takes aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with forcible contact that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball. Some indicators of targeting include but are not limited to:
Launch — a player leaving his feet to attack an opponent by an upward and forward thrust of the body to make forcible contact in the head or neck area
A crouch followed by an upward and forward thrust to attack with forcible contact at the head or neck area, even though one or both feet are still on the ground
Leading with helmet, shoulder, forearm, fist, hand or elbow to attack with forcible contact at the head or neck area
Lowering the head before attacking by initiating forcible contact with the crown of the helmet.
The gist is that hitting a defenseless player in the head or neck area is illegal.
A ball carrier who has established himself as a runner is considered able to defend themselves.
But in many cases a player is defined as “defenseless,” which means helmet-to-helmet contact isn’t allowed. Here are a few of the most common cases, with the wording in the NFL rulebook:
-A player in the act of or just after throwing a pass (passing posture)
-A receiver attempting to catch a pass who has not had time to clearly become a runner. If the player is capable of avoiding or warding off the impending contact of an opponent, he is no longer a defenseless player
-A player on the ground
Hitting any of those players in the head or neck area with a helmet will result in a 15-yard penalty.
Jacksonville Jaguars safety Barry Church picked up a 15-yard penalty for delivering a helmet-to-helmet hit to New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski in the AFC Championship. Gronkowski was still considered defenseless because he didn’t have time to clearly become a runner.
Blindside blocks that players don’t see coming result in 15-yard penalties if it involves helmet-to-helmet contact. Like Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster’s block of Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict :
And Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis ’ block of Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams :
None of those hits resulted in ejections, but if the NFL adopted an equivalent to college football’s targeting rule they likely would have. That’s a reality that may be part of the NFL’s future.
