Inside the NFL’s Heated Debate On the Tush Push

Several head coaches and other league figures argued behind closed doors Monday about the controversial play ahead of a league vote Tuesday over its legality.

The Eagles have converted the tush push at an 86% success rate compared to the league average of 76% in recent seasons. / James Lang-Imagn Images

One more day for the NFL owners at the opulent Breakers resort …

• At a relatively benign owners’ meeting in South Florida, the temperature did turn up when the discussion went to the Green Bay Packers’ proposal to ban the Philadelphia Eagles–patented push play.

Philadelphia GM Howie Roseman defended the play, asking the room for the injury data showing that the concept was creating player-safety issue, then asked for the statistics that show it to be demonstrably more dangerous than a conventional quarterback sneak. NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills returned volley in saying that while there haven’t been a preponderance of injuries on the play, the league’s feeling was that when an injury does eventually happen on it, based on the players’ posture, it could be catastrophic.

Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel further questioned the validity of the proposal by questioning its overly specific language. Harbaugh asked whether he could put sixth and seventh linemen in the game, line them up behind the guards and push the guards downfield. Vrabel asked, since it’s written that the quarterback couldn’t be pushed behind the center, if the quarterback could be pushed running behind a guard.

One perspective from the other side was that it made no sense to allow players to be pushed by teammates on offense when that’s not allowed for guys on defense or special teams. Also, it was pointed out that rugby recently outlawed “assisting the runner” in such ways over similar concerns to the ones Sills held over the potential for serious head and spine injuries. And round and round they went.

Naturally, Philly had the most passionate feelings, believing that its mastery of the play was the only reason for the proposed rules change, but there were plenty of strong opinions in the room. And since you need 24 votes to prompt a rules change, it seems, given the split, it might be tough to get all the support needed to shove (sorry) the rule through.

The discussion is scheduled to continue at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The vote will be soon thereafter.

• The changes to the kickoff also need to be worked through, and to address it, special teams coordinators Darren Rissi (Denver Broncos) and Richard Hightower (Chicago Bears) made the trip to Palm Beach to work through the mechanics with owners, GMs and head coaches.

At a baseline, there’s agreement that last year’s monumental changes largely worked. Returns were up. Injuries were down. There were returns for touchdowns. That’s all good.

With that has come a feeling, from commissioner Roger Goodell and others, that the league should try to continue to increase the amount of returns. The proposal now on the table—which moves the touchback from the 30 to the 35—would presumably do that, by creating a strong deterrent for kicking the ball into the end zone. Some coaches I talked to see that idea as going too far, with one alternative being discussed the idea of moving the kicker back from the minus-35 to the 30, to make it tougher to kick the ball into the end zone.

There are also a handful of questions about changing the formation of the return team that were part of talks over the past couple of days here.

Because of all the complications involved, Goodell’s will could matter here. And if he wants another uptick in returns, there’s a decent chance that he’ll table the vote until the May meeting, giving the league some more time to refine the proposal that’s out there now.

The “dynamic” kickoff could see some minor alterations before next season. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

• One more thing on the rules proposals—the one from the Pittsburgh Steelers allowing teams to talk to prospective free agents during the legal tampering period should sail through. A couple of guys joked that it would just be rubber-stamping what’s already happening.

• On one hand, I’d applaud Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam falling on the sword Monday morning, in telling Cleveland reporters on Deshaun Watson, “We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun. We thought we had the quarterback, we didn’t, and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him.” I think it’s admirable that he then added that it “was an organizational decision, and ends with [wife/co-owner] Dee and I, so hold us accountable.”

On the other hand, Watson’s still on the roster, with two more fully guaranteed seasons to go. And he’ll, presumably, be a part of that quarterback room once his Achilles heals.

• The Seattle Seahawks felt like trading Geno Smith would give him the best chance at the extension he was trying to get in Seattle, and the Las Vegas Raiders are working on giving it to him. Pete Carroll confirmed as much Monday, and I’d think that the new-money average per year would start with a 4, based on what he wanted from his former team.

• The Tennessee Titans are going to get a crew of assistant coaches to Boulder, Colo. for the pro days of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter on Friday so those guys can get eyes on the two ahead of the draft. After that, they’ll send the crew they had in Miami to work out Cam Ward (coach Brian Callahan, GM Mike Borgonzi, president of football ops Chad Brinker, assistant GM Dave Ziegler and others) to Colorado to work those two out privately next Wednesday.

As of right now, due to Abdul Carter’s health concerns, the Titans aren’t pushing it on getting a private workout with the Penn State star (the other of the four guys Tennessee has focused on with the No. 1 pick). The tape has given them what they needed on him.

• As we’ve said before, the Indianapolis Colts’ experience the past two years is that they get the most from Anthony Richardson when they have him fighting and competing for playing time. So it should come as no surprise that Indy’s going to give Daniel Jones every shot to wrest the job from him. I don’t mind it. Either it’ll push Richardson to another level, or they’ll have their answer on the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft, and they can go forward with Jones.

• Interesting nugget from my buddy Mike Garafolo over at NFL Network, on Aaron Rodgers throwing with DK Metcalf in Los Angeles. Obviously, at this point, the Steelers are squarely in the driver’s seat to land the former Green Bay Packer and New York Jet, and this workout isn’t nothing.

• We’ll have more notes from the ground here Tuesday. See ya then!