When the NFL regular season began 16 days ago, the future of the tush push was believed to be tied to whether it was, or wasn’t, “unremarkable” in 2025.
So far, it’s been fairly remarkable. And it has created a growing belief that another run will be made to push the play out of the game.
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, in a Saturday night sneak preview to a Sunday Splash! report, writes that “there are no assurances that the tush push issue will be brought up for conversation or a vote by the NFL this offseason.”
Taking that literally, we suppose it’s accurate. There are few assurances of any kind in life. And it would seem to be premature to expand “death and taxes” to include “another tush push vote.”
But here’s the reality: It takes only one teams to propose it. And while, as Schefter notes, Packers CEO Mark Murphy has retired, PFT has previously reported that the Packers made the original proposal at the nudging of the league office. If new Packers CEO Ed Policy doesn’t want to play along the next time around, maybe someone else will.
In the end, it takes only one team.
If, as we believe, the assault on the tush push started at the league office, there’s no reason to think the league office has changed its mind. The existence of a new video instructing game officials to “officiate it tight” didn’t leak itself. That one carried the fingerprints of 345 Park Avenue, with the goal of creating an anti-tush push narrative.
Even though there are “no assurances” that there will be an effort to increase the existing supermajority of 22 votes to the magic number of 24, it’s not hard to figure out which way the wind is blowing, as of September. Where it’s going come March remains to be seen.
