The NFL has suspended Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu one game without pay “for repeated violations of playing rules intended to protect the health and safety of players, including during Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks,” Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. Luvu will appeal the suspension.
For now, Luvu is slated to sit out the Commanders’ game against the Lions in Week 10 as a result of multiple hip-drop tackles this season. The NFL already fined the 29-year-old earlier in 2025 for violations in Weeks 4 and 8. His latest came during the Commanders’ loss to the Seahawks on Sunday night. The league will dock Luvu his $508,333 game check if his appeal fails.
When NFL teams voted unanimously to outlaw hip-drop tackles in March 2024, the league stated: “A hip-drop tackle occurs when a defender wraps up a ball carrier and rotates or swivels his hips, unweighting himself and dropping onto ball carrier’s legs during the tackle.”
After analyzing over 20,000 tackles, the league concluded that “this specific technique causes lower extremity injuries at a rate 20 times higher than other tackles, resulting in an unacceptable risk to player health and safety.” A season and half has gone by since then, but it’s believed that Luvu’s suspension is the first for hip-drop violations, Pelissero notes.
A former Jet and Panther, Luvu joined the Commanders on a three-year deal worth up to $36MM before the 2024 season. He started in all 17 of the team’s regular-season games last year and posted 99 tackles, a career-high eight sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble. The 29-year-old has again played in all of the Commanders’ games this season, logging 50 tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble along the way. Barring a successful appeal, though, his run of perfect attendance with Washington is over.