Tush push proposal tabled by owners at NFL spring meetings
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Less than two months after the Philadelphia Eagles powered a tush push-heavy season to a Super Bowl title, the NFL has decided to table a vote on the play, Yahoo Sports has confirmed.
The decision was made in a Tuesday session of clubs at the NFL’s annual spring meeting at The Breakers resort.
From one source with knowledge of the meeting: "Did not have the votes. Will study other language in the rule book." https://t.co/hElaYd8A3U
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) April 1, 2025
The tush push involves teammates, often including offensive linemen, pushing a ball carrier over a line to gain. The Eagles and Buffalo Bills ran it more times than the other 30 NFL teams combined in the last three years, per ESPN Research.
The Green Bay Packers introduced the proposal restricting any offensive player from “immediately at the snap, push or throw his body against a teammate, who was lined up directly behind the snapper and received the snap, to aid him in an attempt to gain yardage.”
The proposal needed at least 24 of 32 clubs’ affirmative votes to pass.
The Packers proposal cited “player safety” and “pace of play” as reasons to rule the play illegal, as the NFL has done with other plays recently including the hip-drop tackle.
The competition committee did not screen the proposal, committee chairman Rich McKay said.
Some wondered if it intentionally — and perhaps unfairly — targeted two teams for finding a successful strategy.
“The thing that nobody likes about this discussion that we're having … is the idea that the rule is directed towards two teams,” McKay, who’s also the Atlanta Falcons CEO, said last week over Zoom. “We've had many rules over the years that come in about some play or some tactic or something that was just never contemplated, that all of a sudden is introduced and there's a rule put up to say maybe we shouldn't have that tactic or that play.
“So I don't think any of us like the fact that there's teams associated with this particular rule proposal.”
Packers president Mark Murphy said in an online article published to the Packers’ team site Feb. 1 that the tush push was “bad for the game” as “there is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less.”
The Eagles and Bills converted for a first down or touchdown on 87% of 163 tries the last three years, per ESPN’s data.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni took issue with the “automatic” description.
“It’s a little insulting to say it's just we're good at it, so it's automatic,” Sirianni said. “The amount of things that we've looked into how to coach that play, the fundamentals — there's 1,000 plays out there, but it comes down to how you teach the fundamentals and how the players go through and do with the fundamentals. I can't tell you how many times we practiced [it] because it’s not a play that is easy to practice.
“Just because it's a successful play for us doesn't mean that it should go away.”
The Packers’ formal proposal varied in language from Murphy’s public comments, and conversation around spring meetings increasingly began to mention health concerns in their voting considerations.
“There's a whole medical side of it,” Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said Monday morning. “I give them credit because they've done a heck of a job with it. Tough play to stop, but then you're listening to that and the medical side and you probably could go either way with it.
“I would say if it's putting a player in a bad position, then you probably have to do something about it. But if it's not, then it’s a heck of a play.”
A general manager who spoke with Yahoo Sports on Monday weighed a similar dynamic.
“The only reason I would be against it is if there is data that it’s more unsafe than your normal play for the players involved,” the general manager said. “There hasn't been a serious injury yet, but you could predict maybe there could be based on the way that goes.”