[usrusr]

My initially reaction were similar ideas, but thinking about it some more i am not sure if the empty tank could tolerate the stresses from getting caught in a net. And with a landing strut failure like today, you would probably lose the engines even with the tank not completely tipping over.

But SpaceX seem to be exceptionally good at control systems, fast and precise automated planning. Maybe they will just skip the level of passive rocket catcher structures and intend to move directly to a three-axis actuated landing table? A system like that that could take responsibility for a tiny little amount of deceleration (think extra suspension) and a fair bit of balancing completely outside of the mass budget of the rocket.

[codecamper]

3 axis table? Do you mean that the platform would be able to shift either way to keep it from wobbling over? That seems hard given that a rocket is tall & skinny.

How about a massive electromagnet underneath?

[usrusr]

Tall and skinny is exactly what you would want for dynamic balancing. Unfortunately, an empty booster would have a very low center of gravity compared to the external shape.