On Wednesday, a vote to ban the Tush Push – popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles over the past several seasons – fell two votes shy of the necessary 24 votes. And it sounds like former Eagles center Jason Kelce did his part to make sure that happened.
The Tush Push play involves the quarterback taking the snap and immediately pushing forward into the center with several other players pushing him forward from behind. This often results in the center being pushed forward by several players, which some have suggested could be dangerous.
On the latest episode of their New Heights podcast, Kelce revealed that he was in attendance for a recent owners meeting where he set the record straight about the Tush Push.
"There were some things said at the last owners' meetings," Jason told his brother and co-host Travis Kelce on the podcast via Awful Announcing. "Some of the owners and coaches hinted that the reason I stopped playing was because of the Tush Push and that I got hurt on the Tush Push frequently. I'm just going to answer any questions people have about my partaking in this play."
During last month's NFL's annual league meeting, Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula reportedly claimed that Kelce retired due to the toll the Tush Push took on his body while Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy claimed that Kelce expressed relief for no longer having to run the play because it was dangerous.
Kelce made it very clear that none of this was true, even claiming that he would gladly return to the NFL if all he had to do was run the Tush Push.
"There's not any data to suggest that it's unsafe," Kelce said on New Heights. "I'll come out of retirement today if you tell me all I gotta do is run 80 tush pushes to run in the NFL. I'll do that gladly! It'll be the easiest job in the world."
It's not clear whether or not Kelce's clarification had any impact on the voting, but he set the record straight regardless.
2025 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM.
Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal