The Tush Push is here to stay for the 2025 NFL season. On Wednesday, the vote to ban the tush push play, made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles, did not pass. The Green Bay Packers were the team who petitioned the league to consider banning the plan. Per Dianna Russini, the Packers were asked to submit the request by the NFL because Green Bay is the only team without a principal owner.
Several people close to the team believed that this was the case from the jump. This proposal was a controversial one and that became evident based on reports that Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie delivered a passionate and emotional speech to keep the play in the game during yesterday’s meeting. Since the Packers are the only NFL team without a true owner, they could not create any bad blood amongst the owners. Especially since the Packers President, Mark Murphy, is set to retire on July 13th.
The proposal to ban the tush push play needed 24 votes to pass. 22 teams, including the Packers, voted to ban the play but ultimately, the vote did not meet the number needed to make it official. It is crystal clear that the majority of the league was in support of the proposal. With Mark Murphy retiring and this being his last Owners’ meeting, making him and the Packers the face of the proposal kept the drama to a minimum.
The Packers Will Benefit from the Decision
The good news that came from this decision is it keeps the play in the game. Overall, the Packers found success with the play. Towards the end of the 2024 season, the Packers started using Tucker Kraft in their unique version of the tush push. Kraft would come in motion, line up under center, and take the snap. Overall, this was Green Bay’s way to succeed in short yardage situations. It kept Love out of harms way and ultimately giving the ball to Kraft, who is hard to tackle, gave the Packers a strong chance to get the first down.
Matt LaFleur is certainly a creative coach so it is not crazy to think that there might be more variations to the Tucker Kraft tush push coming this season. With the Packers recent draft selection of WR Savion Williams, he is certainly a candidate who could be used in this scenario. In his last season at TCU, Williams found himself running the wildcat for the Horned Frogs offense. Williams finished the season with 6 rushing TDs and averaged 6.3 yards per carry. Williams and Kraft will certainly be versatile pieces for LaFleur in short yardage situations.
All in all, the decision whether or not to keep the tush push in the game is rather meaningless. Most people, and most teams, would accept it one way or the another. As a result of the Packers being the named team tied to the proposal, Green Bay was the butt of the of joke on social media. It did create a few funny laughs but at the end of the day, there was a strong push to ban the play. Two thirds of the league supported the vote to outlaw the tush push. Despite that, the tush push will be around in the NFL in 2025.
