NFL Asks Teams to Ban Oklahoma, Other High-Impact Drills at Training Camp

The NFL asked teams to eliminate "high-impact drills," including the well-known Oklahoma drill, in training camps in an effort to further reduce head trauma and concussions, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com.

According to that report, "The recommendation came in response to data that showed a high rate of concussions during the early part of training camp in recent years."

The Oklahoma drill is a staple. While it has variations, it generally pits a blocker against a defender in a narrow corridor, with a ball-carrier behind the blocker. If the offensive player drives the defender back and the runner gets through the hole, the offensive player wins. If the defensive player sheds the block or drives the blocker backward and makes the tackle, the defender wins.

It's a full-contact drill and often one of the first drills done once teams start practicing at full contact, though it is more rare in the NFL these days. 

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said in a 2015 ESPN The Magazine article by David Fleming that the Oklahoma drill answers several key questions for a football team: "Who is a man? Who's tough? Who's going to hit somebody?"

Not everyone agrees that the drill should be ubiquitous, however.

"Everybody's better off if nobody does it," Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard defensive tackle, said in 2015. "What we should be doing is rewarding and respecting coaches who say, 'We don't have to destroy each other in order to be men.'"

The NFL and the Players Association have combined to come up with a three-prong strategy for the continued reduction in head injuries, per Seifert: "Prohibiting underperforming helmet models, instituting a series of rule changes rooted in biomechanical research and intervening in early training camp practices."

The Oklahoma drill and others like it fall under that third category. Some former players defended the drill—or at least had mixed feelings on its ban—after Wednesday's news:

With the NFL continuing to seek ways to make the game safer, however, it isn't surprising that several of the more violent drills are being outlawed.