For a few hours last Sunday, Chiefs Kingdom held its breath. A year after their star QB had been taken off the field with an ACL tear against the Chargers, it looked like Travis Kelce would follow suit. The tight end had just limped to the sideline halfway through the game. That’s why, when Andy Reid announced Kelce was good to go, it was a moment of relief. Naturally, fans and analysts demanded action from the NFL.
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PJ Green of The Kansas City Star wrote that the tackle by linebacker Daiyan Henley was a “hip-drop tackle” on Kelce. But the NFL seems to differ on the point, as there has been no fine given to Henley, according to the NFL’s accountability page.
As with every game week, the NFL updated its accountability page with the list of fines handed out to players for the previous week. While Green had referred to Henley as the player who had taken Kelce out, it was actually a different player. However, he was left off the list. He will not have to pay the fine for a first hip-drop tackle violation, which is $17,911. The only fine on the list for a Chargers player was for Alex Harkey, for unnecessary roughness.
The moment in question came with three minutes left in the second quarter. The Chiefs handed the ball to Kenneth Walker, who ran in for a two-yard touchdown. However, during the play, Kelce went to the ground after taking a hit from #92 Justin Eboigbe, who went straight for Kelce’s legs.
That sounds like a drop tackle, right? He took Kelce’s legs to the ground while making the tackle. However, the league clarified what it looks for when deciding whether to punish such a tackle, and that may answer why Henley escaped punishment.
Troy Vincent shared the officiating video sent to all teams ahead of Week 7, and it showed an example of Aaron Rodgers being hit with a hip-drop tackle. Essentially, the NFL looks for four elements: the wrap, the swivel, the unweighting, and then the legs being trapped.
In Kelce’s case, only the last condition has been met, which could be the reason why Eboigbe was not fined. It was Eboigbe’s shoulder that took Kelce out, with the player not grabbing on to Kelce nor pulling him to the ground.
Interestingly, that wasn’t the only decision that could have earned a hip drop tackle violation. On third-and-18 on their opening drive, Mahomes looked to Kelce down the middle. The tight end caught the pass before realizing two Chargers players were already closing in on him. He only managed a few extra yards before being sandwiched between two defenders, with one grabbing onto Kelce’s waist, while the other went for the legs.
These instances might still be worth revisiting, considering the NFL banned the tackle to have a “greater emphasis on five rules violations to safeguard players from injuries, with the hip-drop tackle being one of them,” as it explained in a joint statement with the NFLPA.
“There are some player safety fouls that really put the defender and his opponent at really high risk,” Troy Vincent said at the time. “We don’t like to remove people from the team or the roster, but we’ve had to put some measures in place to hold the player to greater accountability for himself and for his opponent.”
They had seen how damaging the tackle could be. Just take the tackle made on Bucs receiver Chris Godwin, who suffered a dislocated ankle and needed surgery that ended his season. Kelce and the Chiefs were lucky to dodge a similar result last week.
After all, he’s their best receiver this season. And losing him right in the middle of their six-game winning streak, before they went up against the reigning Super Bowl champions, would have been beyond devastating.
Fortunately, just moments after the tackle, while the Chiefs kicked a field goal, Kelce limped over to the sideline and came back on the field after the medical staff wrapped tape around his ankle. Kansas City Star reporter Sam McDowell reported that Kelce was “feeling it.”
He made it to the final quarter, and the Chiefs won the game. Kelce recorded four receptions for 53 yards on four passes. It wasn’t a highlight performance, but it was far better for the Chiefs to save him than to lose him for Week 7 against the defending champions, the Seattle Seahawks.
Kelce was a limited participant in all three of the Chiefs’ practices leading up to Saturday, which raised concerns about his availability for the game. But the tight end recently spoke on his New Heights podcast, talking about how he doesn’t remember winning a game in Seattle and calling it a “tough place to play.”
“They’re 3-3, the defending champs, 3-3,” Kelce said. “They’re gonna [expletive] be pissed, you know? If they’re not already, they’re gonna come out and we’re gonna have probably our biggest challenge already to date, and we gotta go to work this week, man. We gotta figure some things out.”
Judging by his statements, Kelce looks excited about the game and shows no signs of an injury crisis, and that’s what fans will hope is the case when the team plays the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football.