Miami Dolphins defensive end William Hayes will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL he suffered trying to avoid a roughing-the-passer penalty. Hayes was hurt when he sacked Oakland’s Derek Carr during Miami’s 28-20 victory on Sunday. “He was trying to not put body weight on the quarterback,” coach Adam Gase said Monday. “His foot got caught in the ground.”

Hayes is not the only player whose season has been ended by a torn ACL, the San Francisco 49ers confirmed on Monday that their quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo sustained the injury against the Kansas City Chiefs and will not play again in 2018. Garoppolo recently signed a $137.5m, five-year contract with the 49ers. CJ Beathard is expected to be named the new starter.

Hayes’s injury will become a talking point. The new roughing the passer rule, in which a player is penalised if they are deemed to have put “all or most of their weight” on the quarterback during a tackle, has caused controversy. Critics point out it is difficult to make a clean tackle without putting weight on a quarterback. On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers Clay Matthews was called for a second straight week for the penalty, even though he appeared to try to avoid putting excess weight on Washington’s Alex Smith.

Hayes leads the Dolphins with two sacks this season. His loss is costly even though the front four was the Dolphins’ deepest area. Hayes sustained the injury while appearing to try to roll over Carr, rather than land on him. Gase did not elaborate on whether he thought the new rule caused Hayes’s injury. “I’m just telling you what happened,” Gase said. “I’m just telling you what he did.”

This is a foul for roughing the passer - the defender lands “with all or most of the defender’s weight” on the passer. Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9(b): https://t.co/s9YKN8NLuT #GBvsWAS pic.twitter.com/ei2QZkvvzx — NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) September 23, 2018

Gase added that Hayes’s injury was a blow. “He’s one of our leaders and best run defender,” Gase said. “That’s going to be a tough one for us to swallow.

San Francisco 49ers cornerback added was also critical of the new rule. “They don’t care about the rest of us getting hurt. Long as the QB is safe,” he wrote on Twitter.

They don’t care about the rest of us getting hurt. Long as the QB is safe https://t.co/ihjlz3lVQl — Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) September 24, 2018

Elsewhere on Monday, the Cleveland Browns named No1 overall pick Baker Mayfield as their new starting quarterback. Mayfield had backed up Tyrod Taylor at the start of the season but replaced the veteran after an injury during Thursday’s game against the New York Jets. Mayfield made an immediate impact as he led the Browns to a comeback victory, their first win in nearly two years.