Kenyan Drake sent a message to the NFL on Sunday night after suffering a season-ending broken ankle earlier in the day.
Drake had one rush and one catch in the Raiders’ 17-15 loss to Washington in Week 13. Early in the second quarter, he rushed on a 2nd-and-5 play near midfield. Three Washington players converged on him, including Daniel Wise, who then dragged Drake backwards, breaking the running back’s ankle.
If the emphasis is to protect the players this should be an illegal form of tackling like a horse collar. We lose players weekly to high ankle sprains and broken bones but the league would rather flag players for erroneous taunting penalties. Let’s get the priorities together
— Kenyan Drake™ (@KDx32) December 6, 2021
Drake exited the game and did not return. The injury knocked him out for the rest of the season and left him understandably upset.
The veteran running back sent a message to the NFL over Twitter, urging the league to ban the style of tackle that injured him.
“The #NFL needs to look at this specific style of tackling. They are throwing flags for taunting and protecting qbs from getting touched but this is my 2nd straight season being injured by a guy pulling me back and using his body weight to roll up my legs,” Drake wrote. “If the emphasis is to protect the players this should be an illegal form of tackling like a horse collar. We lose players weekly to high ankle sprains and broken bones but the league would rather flag players for erroneous taunting penalties. Let’s get the priorities together.”
The NFL forced defensive players to change their tackling style against quarterbacks to avoid using their bodyweight on hits. If they are able to do that, they can probably police against this type of tackle too.
One of the consequences of all these changes and rules is that offensive players have more and more advantages they never used to have. Drake and other offensive players probably would think that is great.
