The first thing everybody needs to understand is that the NFL has gradually moved away from tackling in practice. The days of teams beating each other up throughout camp and the regular season are over. Every week of the season in the NFL consists of two goals: 1. recover and get healthy for the next battle... and 2. install a gameplan for the next battle. Teams do not hit during the week at all and are conducting only 90 minute practices to correct fundamentals or install the gameplan. Teams protect their investments and that means keeping players healthy. With the amount of guaranteed money being thrown around, no team can afford to give the news to their fanbase that a star player was hurt in practice due to a hit or ill timed tackle to the ground.
Imagine the fanbase reaction and devastation to the team if Ronnie Brown dislocated a shoulder or tore up a knee due to a tackling drill one week into camp? Surely, injuries happen in camp (see Yatil Green) but these are mostly due to a running issue, not getting hit or being hit. The fact is, Cameron can say he is bringing back tackling, but in reality teams spend very little time and do not take the risk to work on full speed hitting. Remember Jimmy Johnson's famed "middle drill"? Even that, while at "full" speed, did not take runners to the ground.
I can't say I blame the reasoning here by NFL teams. I want to see the stars play just as much as the organizations want to guarantee money to players who are able to suit up each week. But with every action, there is a result. And the result of this cultural shift in the NFL has resulted in 32 teams who are poor tacklers. The rampant poor tackling in the NFL is a direct result of not doing enough full speed tackling in practice.
So next time you see a game with an opposing runner run through an arm tackle by JT or you see Will Allen fail to wrap up, think of the fact that tackling in the NFL is becoming a lost art.
