Considering where the game of football was just a decade ago, a whole lot has changed. Driven by research and a renewed focus on player safety, major strides have been made to make safer equipment and practices, and conferences and state high school associations have stepped in with measures like limiting live practice periods.
While all that has been going on, a number of drills that were once staples in football programs across the country from the youth level to the NFL have been scrapped for alternative drills in the name of safety.
According to a few tweets today, the NFL has recommended banning a few of those staple drills from team training camps.
Those drills include; Oklahoma Drill, Bull in the Ring / King of the Circle, Half Line / 3 Spot / Pods.
Over the last several years, many high school and college programs had scrapped (or at the very least made some adjustments to) the typical Oklahoma Drill that has been around forever. It's interesting that now, come 2019, the NFL felt the need to come out and effectively ban the drills, but then again when you stop to think about how far behind the NFL is on evolving in a lot of other aspects, it's not all that surprising at all.
Other important developments from the NFL's Spring Meeting include:
- Kansas City's proposal to overtime that would force both teams to have a possession was NOT voted and does not have the support to move forward at this time.
- NFL owners have given the Competition Committee the power to change the pass interference challenge rule that would allow coaches challenges in the final two minutes of each half. The league will continue the dialogue with coaches and will likely change rule before the start of the NFL preseason - with Hail Mary's being the one exemption to the rule.
Lastly, because the Oklahoma drill has more than it's fair share of fans and vocal supporters, I'll just leave this tweet, and a few more from Judy Battista who is covering the meetings for NFL.com, right here.