Tuesday promises to be a fascinating and potentially significant day as it pertains to the NFL rulebook.
Atop the agenda of proposals to be discussed and decided upon at the NFL's Annual League Meeting is the possible ban of a play that has proven to be a lightning rod: the tush push. The Green Bay Packers in February submitted a proposal to render the play illegal, sparking plenty of conversation regarding its future.
A substantial portion of coaches have publicly supported keeping the play -- made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles -- in the game. Two notable opponents, however, did not shy from explaining why they want it outlawed when asked about the matter on Monday, with both pointing to player safety concerns for their reasoning.
"Yeah, really wasn't a huge part of drafting the proposal like that, but very much in support of it," Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told reporters, via USA Today. "I think the medical professionals of the league had high concerns about putting players in a position to (suffer) catastrophic injuries. I think this is something that needs to be discussed and we need to be proactive about it rather than reactive."
Visually, the play -- a modified version of the quarterback sneak in which one or multiple teammates immediately push the ball-carrier forward -- is a bit of a throwback to the earliest days of football in which the sport resembled rugby more than the game we now recognize. The nature of what is essentially a strategically choreographed scrum can be seen as potentially hazardous, even without a substantial amount of historical data to back such a claim.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott -- another opponent of the play and one of three coaches on the league's competition committee -- acknowledged this unique set of circumstances when asked about the proposal on Monday.
"I've dove deeper into more of the data on it and just thought more about it as well, and my position hasn't really changed at all," McDermott explained. "Where I'm most concerned is, even though there's not significant data out there to this point, my biggest concern is the health and safety of the players, first and foremost.
"It's force, added force, and then the posture of the players, being asked to execute that type of play, that's where my concern comes in."
Because football is a copycat sport, many teams have adopted the play to varying degrees of success. Buffalo enjoyed a relatively successful rate of conversion when attempting it in 2024, but also had their tendency to run the play to the left side of the line backfire on them when it was stopped on a key fourth down in their AFC Championship Game loss to the Chiefs.
Green Bay, meanwhile, occasionally ran a traditional sneak in 2024 but replaced the quarterback with tight end Tucker Kraft, who received assistance from teammates lined up behind him, but not immediately after the snap.
Gutekunst was asked about this play on Monday and confirmed he'd consider it among the style of play the Packers would like to see banned.
"Yeah, it's really any play where a player is getting pushed from behind initially like that," Gutekunst said. "Yeah I think again we owe it to our players, it's not about success, it's about health and safety."
To Gutekunst's credit, Kraft gained an average of two yards per attempt on such plays in the regular season, underscoring its effectiveness in short-yardage situations without requiring immediate leverage assistance. In the Packers' Divisional Round loss to the Eagles, Kraft executed it twice, averaging five yards per attempt while taking two different approaches: on his first attempt, he bounced to the left side of the center, while he went straight up the middle before behind pushed toward the right by a teammate on his second sneak.
As McDermott sees it, he'd prefer to reduce the amount of large collisions between NFL athletes, especially at compromising physical angles, regardless of how effective the play may be.
"That's what I'm tasked to do as a committee member is to do what's best for the overall game and growing the game the right way," McDermott said. "Yes, we do a form of this play and we do it well. I believe us and Philadelphia could both run a form of this play and do it well. I believe both teams could be just as good in a traditional form of a quarterback sneak, and they've shown that over the years. … That's partly also why I believe what I believe."
NFL owners are expected to vote on the tush push -- and other rule proposals -- Tuesday, with 24 out of 32 votes (75%) needed to pass any resolution.
