If there's one group of players in the NFL that the league probably thought would be on board with the new roughing the passer rule, it's quarterbacks.
After all, the rule was implemented to protect them. However, it seems that more and more quarterbacks are now coming out against the rule change, which calls for a defender to be flagged for roughing the passer any time they land on the quarterback with "all or most" of their body weight.
The rule has basically left defenders with three options: Sack the quarterback and risk a flag, try for an arm tackle that the quarterback could break out of or try to awkwardly roll off the quarterback after a sack so you don't land on him with all your weight.
Dolphins defensive lineman William Hayes went for the third option on Sunday and ended up with the worst possible outcome: Hayes tore his ACL while trying to sack Derek Carr and will miss the rest of the season.
During an interview on Wednesday, Carr didn't bash the new rule, but he did make an eye-opening comment.
"I wish the guy would have just landed on me instead of tearing his ACL," Carr said, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "For him to tear his ACL, nobody wants that. I don't want that."
That's an awkward comment for the NFL and that's because you have a quarterback basically saying, "I would rather have a defender land on me than watch someone possibly get injured while trying to abide by a ridiculous new rule."
If the rule wasn't in place, Hayes would have landed on top of Carr and likely wouldn't have torn his ACL. The rule also cost the Packers a win in Week 2 against the Vikings when Clay Matthews was flagged for a controversial roughing the passer call in the fourth quarter of a 29-29 tie. Basically, the new rule is having unintended consequences.
Quarterbacks around the NFL have definitely taken notice and many of them have come out against the new rule. Besides Carr, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco and Deshaun Watson are three other quarterbacks who have all said the new rule doesn't really make any sense.
So is the rule going to change?
That definitely seems possible. Saints coach Sean Payton, who's on the competition committee, says there have been several roughing the passer flags that probably shouldn't have been thrown through the first three weeks of the season.
"The point of emphasis in the offseason was very simple, and that was avoiding the player 'intentionally' placing all the weight on the quarterback," Payton said, via the New Orleans Advocate. "Have we seen some that have been flagged that should not have been? Absolutely."
It's possible that the NFL will start asking officials to only throw a flag when they're absolutely sure that a defender has intentionally landed on the quarterback. According to the Washington Post, there's a chance the league could end up changing the way the rule is enforced, However, the language of the rule won't be changing at all in 2018.