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Hawk Tackling: The Seahawks Shoulder Tackle, Step by Step

Updated · Fact checked

The hawk tackle comes from Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks, who built their tackling system on rugby technique and released a teaching video of it in 2014. It is a shoulder tackle: you hit the ball carrier's thigh with your near shoulder, wrap up and drive your feet, and your head stays out of the contact.

USA Football later worked with the Seahawks on its own shoulder tackling system, so the same ideas now show up in youth and high school coaching. 440 uses hawk tackle angles as a skill drill in the linebacker training plan.

Hawk Tackling Football Drillsfbcoachdaily

How to do it

  1. Set the angle

    Set a tackle wheel or standing bag 5 yards away at about a 45 degree angle. A coach rolls the wheel or moves the bag across your face on a line.

  2. Track the near hip

    Run to the near side of the bag, where the runner's near hip would be, shortening your steps as you close. In partner reps, tag the near hip here and stop: no finish.

  3. Near foot, near shoulder

    On the bag or wheel only, plant your near foot close and drive your near shoulder into it at thigh height, eyes through the thighs, head behind the target.

  4. Wrap, squeeze and roll

    Shoot both arms around the bag or wheel, squeeze, keep the feet moving through the hit and roll it to the ground.

Sets and reps
3 sets of 5 reps each side, 30 seconds rest.
Equipment
A tackle wheel, ring or standing bag, Cones to set the angle, A partner for tracking or tag-off reps only (no finish)
Muscles and skills
Full body
Used in these 440 plans
Linebacker

Coaching cues and common mistakes

Coaching cues

  • Near foot near hip, head behind
  • Rip the arms, squeeze
  • Drive the feet through the ball carrier

Common mistakes

  • Leading with the crown of the head
  • Lunging and diving
  • Stopping the feet

Where your head goes

This is the detail that trips up players who learned the old way. Old school tackling taught head across the bow: force your head across the front of the runner's chest. Seahawks assistant Rocky Seto has said he was taught to get his head across a tackle, which put his head in the line of fire. The hawk tackle does the opposite. You track the near hip, so when you arrive, your near shoulder hits the near thigh and your head ends up behind the ball carrier, to the side and out of the collision.

Say it as you rep it: near foot, near hip, near shoulder, head behind. Leading with the face or the crown of the helmet is the mistake this whole system is built to remove.

The coaching points

Reports on the Seahawks' teaching video list three for the hawk tackle: eyes through the thighs, wrap and squeeze, and drive for five, which CBS Sports describes as carrying the ball carrier back five yards if necessary while engaged. That last point is about game tackles; it is not part of the drill below. Before any of that comes tracking. You close on the near hip so the runner can't cut back inside you, and you get your near foot close so you strike with power instead of reaching.

Build it on bags and tackle wheels. Start at walking speed and add speed only when the footwork holds. With a partner, run tracking or tag-off reps only: close on the near hip, tag it and stop, with no finish. Don't call a thigh-level finish "thud": in USA Football's levels of contact, thud keeps contact above the waist and players stay on their feet. A qualified coach must select and supervise any player-contact progression under team and league practice rules.

A rep is good when the near foot is down at contact, the shoulder lands on the thigh of the bag or wheel and the feet keep moving after the hit.

FAQ

Is hawk tackling the same as rugby tackling?

It grew out of it. The Seahawks modeled their shoulder tackles on rugby players, who tackle without helmets and keep the head to the side of the contact. The hawk tackle is the version aimed at the thigh with the near shoulder.

Where does your head go in a hawk tackle?

Behind the ball carrier. You track the near hip and hit with the near shoulder, so your head ends up behind the runner's body, not across the front of the chest the way older tackling was taught.

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Sources

  1. Pete Carroll teaches the tackling philosophy of the Seahawks (including drills) (Doug Samuels, Jul 27, 2015; secondary 'cliff notes' summary of the Seahawks' 2015 updated tackling video, which was not itself opened), FootballScoop
  2. How Pete Carroll's rugby-style tackle is changing college football, CBS Sports
  3. With Rugby and Robots, College Football's Top Teams Are Battling for the Perfect Tackle (2017-08-15), Sports Illustrated
  4. Stop Missing Tackles: 7 Elite Near-Shoulder Drills for Spill Defenses (Spencer Leno, Dec 28, 2024), Glazier Clinics
  5. Seahawks Tackling Video To Change The Game (John Boyle, 2015-06-11), Seahawks.com (Seattle Seahawks)
  6. The tackle (Rugby Ready), World Rugby Passport
  7. DRASTICALLY Reduce Missed Tackles: The Coach's Guide to Leverage Shoulder Tackling (Matt Mitchell, published Feb 28, 2025), Glazier Clinics
  8. Huskers, other teams see rugby-style tackling as heady move (AP, 2016-08-13), Sports Illustrated / Associated Press
  9. Shoulder Tackling, USA Football
  10. Shoulder Tackling System launched (11/20/2018), USA Football
  11. USA Football's Practice Guidelines for Youth Tackle Football define and set limits on full contact, USA Football

Program numbers (benchmarks, sets, reps, loads, protein targets) are 440 Football's own prescriptions. For athletes 13 and older; check with a physician or a registered dietitian before major training or diet changes.