Quote:
Originally Posted by Ksyrup
Yeah, that's been the rule forever. This was one of the big things that came up when RG3 first came into the NFL and couldn't learn to slide, so he was taking huge hits because he was afraid of tearing up his knee awkwardly sliding.
There are definitely several scenarios in which QBs can game the system. Going out of bounds is one, this is the other.
The issue is that because the ball is spotted where you are when you begin your slide, QBs have an incentive to slide as late as possible, with the double benefit of potentially drawing this kind of hit. It's become a safety issue in a way the NFL probably didn't intend.
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I meant it's not a QB-specific rule. RBs and WRs with the ball could also try to game the system, slide at the last minute, etc, and it'd be a flag to hit them during the slide. They just tend not to be running at defenders running back at them from a long distance.