NFL adopts rolling three-strike safety suspension formula
The NFL and NFLPA unveiled a rolling safety-rule suspension system: a one-game suspension after the third violation of any one of five rules (hip-drop tackles, horse-collar tackles, launching, hits on defenseless players, and blindside blocks). Violations carry over year-to-year with resets: players start each year with zero violations; two violations in a season carry one into the next, unless a new season has no violations, in which case it resets to zero. A third violation in a season triggers suspension, with further violations that year extending penalties; carryovers can keep a player near suspension in following seasons. The article notes this approach would have produced only one suspension in 2024 and one in 2025.
