I disagree with the validity of many so-called "safety" rules. But the tray table is one that I absolutely agree with. The turmoil on exit that would rest if a seat-back tray table were in the dropped position could be big. I'm very surprised that this configuration is (or ever was) allowed in an exit row.
Cheers.
I was on 2 AS 737 flights this past week, in the exit row and used seat back tray tables.
Most of my flights are on Eagle RJ with a lot of flights in the exit row as it is the only seat I can use for my laptop.