NFL Rule Proposals Don’t Include Ban on Tush Push

It’s official: There will be no revived effort to ban the Tush Push at next week’s NFL annual meeting in Arizona.

As expected, the league’s competition committee released Tuesday its set of formal proposals to be voted on by team owners, and that set does not include a new initiative to ban the much-debated play. Instead, there will be five other new rules under consideration by the committee. Among them:

• Allowing a kicking team to declare an onside kick at any time during a game, instead of the current statute requiring that team to be trailing. 
• Eliminating a kicking team’s incentive to intentionally kick the ball out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line. 
• Modifying the kickoff alignment requirements for the receiving team.
• Allowing on-field officials to consult with league officials when considering game disqualifications, for either football or non-football acts. Those disqualifications would also not require a penalty on the play. 
• Allowing members of the NFL officiating department to correct clear and obvious misses by on-field officials “that impact the game” if there is a work stoppage involving the NFL Referees Association. 

This last measure could be the most significant and controversial among the five, as the league is considering the use of replacement officials in the upcoming 2026 season. The league is currently in labor negotiations with the NFLRA, and with progress in those talks still slow, the NFL is already developing a list of potential replacements. The NFL last made such a move in 2012 to widespread outcry across the sport. 

Passage on any of these proposals requires support from at least 24 of 32 teams. 

Little Appetite for Change

A proposal from the Packers to ban the Tush Push was tabled at last year’s annual meeting, and then defeated at the league’s spring meeting. 

Last month at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, competition committee co-chair Rich McKay said he hadn’t seen a new proposal for a Tush Push ban, and wasn’t necessarily expecting one. Despite ongoing debate about both the aesthetics and safety considerations of the Tush Push, the short-yardage play remains a fixture of the league. 

During the 2025 season, though, the first down conversion percentage for Tush Push plays fell somewhat, with a 76.8% success rate compared to 82% in the 2022–24 seasons. 

Separately, there are two proposed resolutions that will be considered next week: one from the Browns to allow trades of draft picks up to five years into the future, and one from the Steelers to make permanent the league’s legal tampering rules preceding free agency.