After the New England Patriots’ defensive backs battered Peyton Manning’s receivers in the 2003 AFC Championship Game, the league announced a crackdown on illegal contact in 2004. Defenders were suddenly being flagged for the kind of physical coverage that had once been routine. But the original blueprint for that physical style, and for the rule that eventually limited it, came from a Pittsburgh Steelers legend. That story starts with Mel Blount.

During a recent sit-down on Not Just Football with Cam Heyward, the former Steelers cornerback recalled how a meeting with the league over his play style preceded the rule change under his name.

“The rule change, I don’t know if you realize, because there’s a lot of history, man, when you talk about those Steelers of the 70s and a lot of things that happened Joe Greene, all those guys, they actually took the head slap, where guys would just slap a line up head. But the rule change that they named the Mel Blount Rule was about me,” Blount said. “I was physically handling receivers…

“And what I’ll never forget was Dan Rooney called me into Dan’s office and said, “Mel, the commissioner wants you to come to New York.” And I’m saying, “For what?” So, we in this meeting room, and they were running film and said, “What about this play here? What are you doing here?” And so, it just got to the point where I got aggravated and I said, “Look, I said it’s legal.” I said, “I’m gonna keep doing it.” I said, “Until they change the rules, I’m gonna keep playing that way. And so the next year they sure enough, they changed, and they call it the Mel Blount Rule.”

Before 1978, the NFL allowed defensive backs to jam, maul, and hit eligible receivers anywhere on the field as long as the ball wasn’t in the air.

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Mel Blount mastered this bump-and-run technique to a suffocating degree. Standing at 6’3″ and weighing over 200 pounds, Blount possessed the size of a linebacker and the elite speed of a corner. To that end, he would legally bully wide receivers down the entire field, entirely erasing them from plays.

Blount’s dominance peaked in 1975 when he won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award after grabbing 11 interceptions in a 14-game season. His physical style anchored the Steelers’ legendary “Steel Curtain” defense, prompting the NFL Competition Committee (led by Don Shula) to take action to curb Pittsburgh’s stifling defense and spark stagnant league-wide offenses. In Blount’s telling, the league changed the rule the year after that New York meeting, where he refused to alter his style.

However, following the 1978 rule change, also known informally as the Mel Blount Rule, there were several restrictions brought in by the league. Defenders were restricted to making contact with an eligible receiver only within the first 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Once the receiver moved past that 5-yard zone, any continuous bumping, grabbing, or redirection became illegal contact resulting in a penalty.

Despite the rule intended to slow him down, Mel Blount adapted and continued to shut down receivers. In 1978, the very first year the rule was implemented, Blount was voted a First-Team All-Pro by some publications (Second-Team by the AP) and made the Pro Bowl. He repeated both honors in 1979 and won the Super Bowl in both seasons.

However, Blount played only a few years following the rule change. The 1983 season was his final season in the NFL, as he opted for retirement after that.

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