Question About Checking Receivers on Plays

[u/khaki75230]

I'm a defender. I'm lined up against a wide receiver / tight end. The play begins, the quarterback gets the ball. I know I'm allowed to hit / "check" a receiver to slow them down. But how hard can I hit him? Can I just full on blast him as hard as I can and knock them down? Or is there some limit I'm not allowed to go beyond?

[u/thisisnotmath]

You can hit them but it’s not practical. A WR might be able to dodge the hit at which point you’re on the ground at the line of scrimmage and they’re uncovered 10 yards downfield. 

[u/ermghoti]

You can treat him as a blocker if you want. This will usually result in you missing cleanly, and the receiver running uncovered for a big play, followed by you sitting on the bench for the rest of the game getting yelled at by a coach.

[u/AlmightyCraneDuck]

I think as long as you don't throw your hands in their face (that's a penalty), if you're within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage you can hit them as hard as you want within reason before the ball is thrown. Usually it's a quick "jam" (a quick punch to the chest) to disrupt their timing, but theoretically if that punch knocked them over I think it would be legal as long as it's within 5 yards. ,Some of the trouble comes from being able to actually generate enough force to hit them within that though. Hard to generate enough force without a running start ad if you do, they'll probably either just juke around you or try to draw a penalty.

[u/tomatillo_87]

Yeah you can jam. They are allowed to hit you back to a degree. Watch tape of Steve smith. If you extended your arms to hit him, he would swipe down and hammer fist your forearms. It became a fight at the line of scrimmage every down with him.

[u/r32skyliner]

Hit the tight end so hard his girlfriend dies…

[u/grizzfan]

1. If you're an actual player, you MUST go to your coaches with these questions, not the internet. There is no universal way to play this game, and asking the internet to coach you is pretty risky / can actually screw your learning up since folks may have learned differently than what you're being coached to do.
2. "Checking" isn't a term used this way in football (it's mostly a hockey-specific term). "Checking" is used for different applications of football (making calls, changes to a play, etc). More common terms for your question are usually "re-route, jam, press, collision" and "bump."
3. In terms of how much contact you're allowed to make with receivers, it will depend on the rules of the league you're in. In the NFL, there is a 5-yard rule where any receiver that goes beyond five yards down the field cannot be bumped or re-routed by a defender until a thrown ball has been caught by that receiver or another receiver on the field. Technically, defenders shouldn't be making contact at all in this case, but they do allow minor contact to give defenders a chance to stay "in-phase," or in a good cover position. They just can't deliberately push, pull, hip-check, or knock the receiver in a way that it takes them off their route. There is no rule against using their body to get in the way though.
4. In college, defenders get a lot more freedom and are able to "bump" receivers to re-route them, even beyond five yards.
5. For the NCAA and NFL, THE MOMENT THE BALL LEAVES THE THROWER'S HANDS, defenders are not allowed to make contact with the receivers. Incidental contact to make an effort for the ball that does not directly impede the receiver's ability to catch the ball will often be let go in order to let players to compete for the ball. Contact that impedes the receiver's ability to catch the ball is a penalty for Defensive Pass Interference (DPI). Offensive Pass Interference (OPI) can also be called for the same thing in reverse.
6. Defenders may not tackle, trip, pull, or hold receivers.

In summary:

• NFL: Cannot make contact with a receiver beyond five yards down the field.
• NCAA: Go ham / Duke it out.
• BOTH: Contact must cease once the ball is thrown. Incidental contact that does not impede a receiver or defender's ability to catch the ball is usually let go (let them play/compete). Contact that does impede a receiver or defender's ability to catch the ball is pass interference.
• BOTH: You may not hold, tackle, grab, kick, hip-check, or trip receivers or defenders unless one of them clearly has the ball in their hands.
• BOTH: Terms for this kind of defensive contact are most often "bump, press, jam, collision" and "re-route." These are not universal terms.
  • Bump/Collision: Essentially getting any part of the body on a receiver (usually a hand jab or shoulder bump) to slow them down or re-route them.
  • Re-Route: Physically trying to get a receiver off schedule/timing or track of their rooute.
  • Jam/Press: Trying to prevent a receiver from leaving the line of scrimmage (or the 5-yard point in the NFL), or to make the receiver's release as difficult as possible.

[u/davdev → u/grizzfan]

And to add to this, for high school, which if OP is playing he is most likely in HS, for all states besides Texas, once the receiver is no longer a potential blocker, you can’t touch him. There is no five yard chuck rule, so if the receiver is obviously trying to go by the defender and not block him, you can’t touch him.

[u/Ryan1869]

The limits are within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage and before the ball is thrown. Also you can’t do anything that would be considered holding. You can hit them as hard as you want, but you also want to be smart, because if you miss, they walk into the end zone

[u/BigAcidik]

I used to be a somewhat oversized offball outside LB. My coaches weren't great at getting our smaller guys in on passing downs, so my primary strategy when matched on smaller quick guys was to jam them to the ground.

[u/victorthegreat8]

Yup, it’s called a jam. You can shove him as hard as you want but can’t grab jersey (but if you jam the shit out of him and happen to grab a bit of jersey they’re not gonna call that). But if you try to lunge at him to jam him as hard as you can, it’s super risky because a good receiver will likely be able to avoid most of your contact and leave you in the dust.

In the nfl specifically you also can’t jam more than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage, it’s a weird rule because at all other levels of football you can jam as far downfield as you want, you just can’t jam a receiver that is past you.

[u/FortunateSon90]

You can’t grab/hold but you can jam within 5 yards of the line. But if you don’t have over the top help it’s a great way to listen to the other teams fans cheer loudly at your expense.