Yes, we’ve found another running back who has weighed in on the NFL’s new rule banning runners delivering hits with the tops of their helmets. And no, we haven’t found a running back who likes the rule yet.
The latest to weigh in is David Wilson of the Giants, who says when runners lower their heads in the open field, they’re not trying to initiate a head-first collision.
“It’s stupid,” he told the New York Daily News. “Runners, when you run, you’re automatically tilted. Even a track runner, when they cross the finish line, the first thing there is their head. . . . It’s a stupid rule. You just gotta wait and see how the refs call it and whatever. But that’s gonna be a lot of flags.”
Wilson said one of his runs is in the NFL’s instructional video demonstrating the kinds of hits that will now be penalized. He found that out from Charles Way, the former Giants running back who is now the Giants’ director of player development, and so Wilson now says he needs to think about the way he runs.
“I’m one of the examples of ‘Don’t do this,’” Wilson said. “Charles was like, ‘Congratulations, you’re on the technique tape.’”
Starting this season, the message for a running back who delivers a hit with the top of his head won’t be “Congratulations.” It will be, “That’s a penalty and a fine.”