The NFL is navigating a minefield that it installed on its own without having a map of where the mines are. That is what I would liken their hasty decision to implement a potentially dramatic new illegal contact rule in time for the 2018 season to.
While quite a number of things have happened between the time that the main portions of the rule were approved by the owners at the Annual League Meeting that have taken attention away from it, the new lowering of the helmet rule remains a hot topic, and especially so this past week.