Eagles’ Tush Push faces an NFL rule change proposal that could ‘adjust’ or ban the play

The NFL will once again hold conversations about the legality of the Tush Push this offseason, putting the Eagles’ dominant short-yardage play in the sights of the league’s competition committee for a third year in a row.

According to several media reports stemming from the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis on Monday, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, noted that an unspecified team has proposed an amendment to the NFL’s rules to address the play popularized and mastered by the Eagles offense. Jalen Hurts led the league’s quarterbacks with 14 rushing touchdowns last season, primarily thanks to the sneak plays with two or more players lined up behind him and pushing him through the pile after the snap.

According to The Athletic, the Green Bay Packers are the team proposing the rule change to ban the play. Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy publicly criticized the play in a column on the team’s website in which he answered questions from fans earlier this month.

“I am not a fan of this play,” Murphy wrote. “There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. … I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the runner (QB) on this play. 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. That worked pretty well for Bart Starr and the Packers in the Ice Bowl.”

» READ MORE: It might be time for Mike Tomlin and the NFL’s competition committee to take another look at the Eagles

It’s worth noting the league held discussions about the play in each of the last two offseasons but decided each time against changing the rules to outlaw the play. Vincent said last year that there were “lengthy discussions” with a handful of different committees in the league office, but the conclusion was to mostly leave the play alone. Vincent, a former Eagles cornerback inducted into the team’s hall of fame, also said last year that the league’s research showed there were “very few injuries” stemming from the play.

On Monday, Vincent said there will be a new round of discussions in the coming weeks, starting at the scouting combine and reaching an inflection point late next month at the annual league meetings.

“That has picked back up,” Vincent told the Washington Post. “We do have a club playing-rule proposal around the Tush Push. It’s the way they deemed it, the Tush Push. … The club proposal is, ‘We need to make some adjustments to that. Is that a viable football play?’

“And now you have a club proposal which you have to give the proper time and attention to. Now it’s back on the table. How we look at it, any adjustments that we … could make or if we should make it.”

Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, also told The Washington Post on Monday regarding injury concerns that because the play is run infrequently, “We don’t have a trend or a data point to look at and analyze and say, ‘Hey, this showed up.’”

Bills coach Sean McDermott, a member of the league’s competition committee, expressed his own belief Monday that the “optics” of the play would suggest it does not prioritize player safety.

“To me, there has always been an injury risk with that play,” McDermott told reporters. “And I’ve expressed that opinion for the last couple of years or so. But it really started to come into play the way it’s been used especially a year ago. So I just feel like player safety and the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game, which it is. It’s just that play to me or the techniques that are used with that play to me have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players. And so again, you have to go back though in fairness to the injury data on the play. But I just think the optics of it I’m not in love with.”

Previous discussions around the play and potential rules violations have led to a slight shift in how the sneak was officiated the last two seasons. The Eagles were called for a handful of penalties for illegal formations or false starts last year as officials placed added emphasis on the offensive linemen’s alignment before the snap. Still, the Eagles ran the play to great effect during the 2024 season, finishing fourth in fourth-down conversion percentage partly thanks to their ability to convert from short-yardage situations with the sneak.

» READ MORE: NFL’s stance on the Eagles’ Tush Push is to ‘leave it alone’ as the sneak play remains legal in 2024

Teams have also gotten more creative in attempting to stop Hurts’ progress, with Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu committing three successive encroachment penalties trying to leap over the Eagles’ offensive line just before the snap. Luvu’s acrobatics led to officials warning they could “award a score” to the Eagles if the foul was intentionally done again.

Any final verdict on the play will have to wait about a month when the competition committee and the NFL owners gather at the annual league meetings, scheduled for March 30 to April 2.