What started as a simple quarterback sneak eventually evolved into a coaching nightmare, with the Philadelphia Eagles mastering Tush Push and turning it into an edge over the opponents. It was earlier reported that the NFL might ban the play heading into the next season, but ESPN Insider Adam Schefter, on Wednesday, cleared the air.
“There will be no discussion about the Tush Push at next week’s NFL owners’ meetings; the play will be back in 2026,” tweeted Schefter, officially dismissing the ban rumor.
Seeing the tweet, the Eagles’ veteran offensive tackle, Lane Johnson, certainly had a sigh of relief, as his offensive unit will continue to use the game-altering play in the upcoming campaign. As Schefter broke the news, he reacted with a single laughing emoji.
The annual league meeting is scheduled to be held next week with all 32 teams. In the rule change proposal for the next campaign, there is no mention of Tush Push, and hence, it’s not going to be addressed whether for a ban, rule change, or modification, meaning the teams can take the same approach as they had been taking for the past few seasons.
The ban rumor was fueled by a near miss from the last season when a proposal was made to discontinue the offensive play. When the voting was done in May 2025, it needed 24 votes to hit the majority but fell short by only two, ending with 22-10 in favor of the ban. Ahead of the new season, some analysts believed that the topic would be addressed again, but no team came forward to initiate a new proposal.
“There’s no team proposal that I’ve seen from it,” said NFL competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay, in a recent statement to ESPN.
The lack of interest in the Tush Push ban could be due to several factors. The play’s success rate has dropped from 81% in 2024 to 63.6% in 2025, and it’s expected to wane further with more defensive units learning to counter it.
— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) March 25, 2026
Moreover, it’s relatively safer than previously believed. It doesn’t result in more injuries than the NFL’s conventional quarterback sneaks. While more teams are adopting Tush Push, the Philadelphia Eagles initially took it to the league.
Nick Sirianni’s early vision laid the foundation for the Tush Push
The incumbent Eagles head coach, Nick Sirianni, first introduced the idea in 2020 when he was the offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts. He successfully used it with the backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Then, when he became the head coach of the Eagles, he introduced the idea to the new team. Seeing the success rate, he added it to the regular offensive playbook.
Tush Push is inspired by a rugby play, which is why Sirianni brought in the Scottish rugby coach, Richie Gray, as an advisor, who further helped to execute it. Moreover, the presence of left tackle Jordan Mailata, who played rugby in Australia before getting drafted in the NFL, was a bridge to carry it out smoothly.
Now, after dominating with the play in 2024, the Eagles saw a noticeable dip in 2025. A less healthy offensive line played a part, but defenses also caught up, adjusting their approach by attacking the edges and disrupting the push rather than meeting it head-on. Head coach Nick Sirianni acknowledged those changes, admitting the team has to either rediscover its old dominance or find new ways to finish drives in key moments. That process, he emphasized, is what makes the offseason valuable: breaking things down, tweaking the approach, and evolving.
Philadelphia has long taken pride not just in executing the play, but in building variations off it to keep defenses guessing. That element slipped a bit last season, and getting it back could be key to restoring its edge. Interestingly, their new offensive coordinator, Sean Mannion, comes from the Green Bay Packers, the same organization that pushed to have the play banned last year. While that proposal cited safety concerns, league officials, including Troy Vincent, found no injuries tied to it, shifting the debate more toward how the play looks rather than how dangerous it is.
