I cited an old source to make it clearer that this is not a new sense, and that its entry into English probably had nothing to do with American Football, which existed in 1913 but was still far from being the sport of the US.

I’d have cited the OED instead, if I had access. I bet it’s got examples of this usage dating back to 1500 or something. It’s simply a sense of the word, now, hardly even figurative at all (as “grapple” barely is, in some similar senses, now)