Dec 8, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) reacts after scoring against the Carolina Panthers during the second quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher
NFL owners have voted to not ban the tush push, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports. 24 votes were needed to pass the ban, a hurdle the proposal failed to clear.
BREAKING: The Packers' proposal to ban the tush push did not receive the required 75% support from the NFL's owners to pass, per source.
The tush push remains alive. pic.twitter.com/CVEhTjUuAO
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) May 21, 2025
The Eagles social media team wasted no time in taking a victory lap:
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) May 21, 2025
According Russini, the language surrounding the proposal was as follows: “No offensive player may immediately at the snap of the ball, push or throw his body against a teammate, who was lined up directly behind the snapper and received the snap, to aid him or gain yardage advantage.”
As the fate of the tush push is set to be voted on over the next two days in Minneapolis, members of the Eagles continue to call around the league discussing why the play in its current form should not be banned, per sources.
Here is the language of Green Bay's proposal: pic.twitter.com/UKeIyxqZQj
Any time a team used the Tush Push, it would have been assessed a 10-yard penalty for “assisting the runner, interlocking interference, or illegal use of hands, arms or body by the offense.”
Throughout the offseason, Packers CEO Mark Murphy pushed for the ban, citing player safety as the main reason. On Feb. 1, he voiced his displeasure with the play in an article published on the Packers website.
“I am not a fan of this play,” Murphy wrote. “There used to be a rule prohibiting this, but it is no longer enforced because I believe it was thought to be too hard for the officials to see.
“The play is bad for the game, and we should go back to prohibiting the push of the runner. This would bring back the traditional QB sneak.”
Murphy made the play a hot-button issue at the annual NFL Owners Meetings earlier this year, where the ban was initially introduced. However, it didn’t have the votes to pass. ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler reported that 16 teams agreed with the plan, which forced talks to be tabled until the meetings in Minneapolis this week.
The Eagles have become known for using the play in short-yardage situations since Nick Sirianni became the head coach in 2021. The play has become almost automatic with Jalen Hurts under center, with the Eagles converting first downs on 91.3% of snaps where they use the Tush Push. It’s also helped Hurts accumulate 55 career rushing touchdowns, including 14 last season as he helped lead the Eagles to the franchise’s second-ever Super Bowl.
First down conversion rate:
The #Eagles running the "Tush Push" (2022-2024) -- 91.3%
The #Eagles running the QB sneak (2021) -- 92.9%
(It's higher running the QB sneak)
Debates surrounding the legality of the play have dragged out because of the Eagles’ success using it. Despite claims of the play endangering player safety, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie strongly disagrees.
"Safety is the most important thing when evaluating any play. We’ve been very open to whatever data exists on the Tush Push and there’s just been no data that shows that it isn’t a very, very safe play. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be pushing the Tush Push,” Lurie said to reporters, including PHLY’s Zach Berman at the NFL Owners Meetings in April.
Lurie added that the play is “available to every team in the league,” but they choose not to use it, pointing to the Buffalo Bills as the lone outlier, due to their usage with Josh Allen.
"But I think, first of all, it’s a precision play. It’s very practiced. We devote a lot of resources to the tush push. We think we have an unusual use of personnel because we have a quarterback that can squat over 600 pounds and an offensive line that’s filled with All-Pro players,” Lurie said. “That combination with incredible, detailed coaching with (Jeff) Stoutland, has created a play we can be very successful at. There’s other ways of gaining that half yard, that yard. There’s quarterback sneaks, other types, but we’ve been very, very good at it.
Lurie’s pleas ended up working in his favor. Despite hard pitches to eliminate the play from Murphy and others in the league, it’s here to stay.
