‘Tush push’ remains by narrow margin after NFL owners vote at spring league meetings

NFL owners did not pass a proposal Wednesday to ban the “tush push,” a type of quarterback sneak popularized and most successfully used by the Eagles.

At least 24 of 32 owners needed to vote yes for the rule proposal to pass. Ten teams, including the Eagles, were reportedly against banning the move, leaving the proposal two teams shy of passing.

The Vikings were not listed among the reported teams that voted against the proposal. The Lions, their NFC North rival, were on the list as supporters of keeping the play.

The vote took place at the spring league meetings at Omni Viking Lakes Hotel in Eagan.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, asked during a news conference if reports he supported the ban were true, said he “usually take[s] a neutral position.”

The Packers submitted the rule change proposal. Many have likened the tush push to a rugby maneuver, with some claiming that’s why it should be barred from football.

Former Eagles center Jason Kelce was in attendance with the team’s ownership at the meeting and spoke during the general session.

Kelce has spoken out against banning the move despite saying that, as a center, he doesn’t enjoy it in a February appearance on TNT’s “The Steam Room.” He declined twice to speak with gathered reporters following the vote.

Rich McKay, co-chair of the NFL competition committee, said the discussion about the tush push and other push plays was long. It included a presentation by Kelce, a statement from the Eagles, commentary from other team ownership in the room and watching some videos.

Though the tush push took the spotlight in the discussion, the rule proposal discussed Wednesday encompassed all push plays. The Packers’ proposal was amended to describe push plays as “pushing, pulling, lifting, or assisting the runner except by individually blocking opponents for him.” Their original proposal had listed the effect of the rule change only as prohibiting “pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap.”

“There wasn’t much discussion about downfield [push plays],” McKay said. “I just believe that’s one where the great majority want to clean that up, and I think we will. We can by the whistle, and we will maybe by rule downstream.”

The reasons listed for the rule change were “player safety” and “pace of play.” Those did not change between editions of the proposal.

The rule change proposal was first addressed at the NFL owners meetings on April 1, and the vote on the matter was delayed until this week’s spring meetings.

McKay noted it’s not uncommon for votes on one to two proposals per year to be pushed back from the earlier league meetings to the spring ones.

The proposal was unanimously supported by the competition committee, the player health and safety committee and the owner health and safety committee, he said.

“There’s a lot of support for it, a lot of discussion about it,” McKay said. “I’ve been in that room numerous times where we’ve had these types of discussion, and one team really ends up being, in their minds, more impacted than others.

“It still takes 24 votes. In this case, those votes were not there, so the rule will stay as it is.”

The Vikings memorably failed on back-to-back tush pushes with wide receiver Brandon Powell pushing quarterback Nick Mullens in a 2023 overtime loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati. Failed attempts like those contribute to why some defensive players support keeping the move, even with the high success rate the Eagles have.

”We’re sitting there getting multiple thousands of pounds [and] thrown off the line of scrimmage, but I’m for the tush push,“ Vikings defensive tackle Harrison Phillips told “Hurrdat Sports Live” in March. “You should be able to do it until somebody figures out a way to stop it. I’d say the best play I ever had in my career was on a tush push versus Buffalo, fumbled snap in the end zone and we ended up recovering the football.”

The Vikings beat the Bills 33-30 in overtime in 2022.

Andrew Krammer of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.