The Philadelphia Eagles found themselves on both sides of proposed regulation changes ahead of the 2025 NFL season, calling for changes to the playoffs while facing another call for their famed ‘Tush Push’ play to be outlawed.

Green Bay, a long-time opponent of the controversial take on the more traditional quarterback sneak — also known as The Brotherly Shove given its city of origin — and has now formalised its proposal to have the rulebook altered to outlaw its use with immediate effect. Seeking an amendment to Rule 12, Section 1, Article 4 of the regulations dealing with ‘Blocking, Use of Hands and Arms’, the Packers have submitted the following alteration, on the grounds of player safety and pace of play, to the text:

“(d) immediately at the snap, push or throw his body against a teammate, who was lined up directly behind the snapper and received the snap, to aid him in an attempt to gain yardage.”

Furthermore, they suggest that anyone attempting the move be subject to the existing penalty for ‘assisting the runner, interlocking interference, or illegal use of hands, arms, or body by the offense’, which is the loss of 10 yards.

Public opinion over the validity of the Tush Push as a football move — as opposed to an import from rugby — and an innovation worthy of its place in the game has been divided since it originated, and there is no guarantee that the assorted team owners will vote on its exclusion when they congregate at the Annual League Meeting in Florida from 30^th March.

On the flipside, the Eagles have put forward a change they’d like to see to the NFL’s overtime process, namely aligning the postseason and regular season rules by granting both teams an opportunity to possess the ball, regardless of the outcome of the first possession, subject to a 15-minute overtime period in the regular season. Philadelphia were also party — along with Baltimore, Cleveland, Houston, Las Vegas, Minnesota and Washington — to an amendment that would ‘permit clubs to prepare kicking footballs (“K-Balls”) before game day, similar to the process permitted for game footballs’.

Perhaps the most significant suggested amendment was put forward by the Detroit Lions, no doubt as a result of being on the wrong side of the current rules determining playoff seeding. The Lions, who lost to a surging Washington team — who had qualified as a wild card on the NFC side of the draw — in the Divisional Round of the 2025 playoffs, faced stronger opposition than others below their #1 seeding.

Detroit’s proposal would see the seeding format altered to allow wild card qualifiers to be positioned above division champions if they finish the regular season with a better W-L record. The #1 overall seed, however, would remain with the division winner boasting the best record. Instead of facing, and beating, Tampa Bay on the road in January, the Commanders would instead have hosted the Green Bay Packers and, with fixtures shaken up on both sides of the playoff race, subsequent rounds could have looked quite different. To summarise lengthy suggested amendments to the rulebook, Detroit’s primary reason for the change is listed as ‘competitive equity’, as well as providing ‘excitement and competition in late season games’ and rewarding ‘the best-performing teams from the regular season’.

Detroit was also responsible for a proposal to remove the automatic first down penalty awarded when a defender is guilty of defensive holding or illegal contact, on the basis that the ‘current penalty enforcement is too punitive for the defense’.

The Lions were busy in the run-up to the proposals being submitted, also calling for an amendment to Article XVII, Section 17.1 of the Constitution and Bylaws, which would exclude players placed on Reserve/Injured before or on the day of the roster reduction to 53 players — unless such player is Designated for Return — from appearing as part of from the 90-player roster limit. Designed to improve roster flexibility for all 32 teams, the change is designed to allows clubs to better manage their 90-man rosters, especially late in the season, in the event of an unusually high number of players being placed on the Reserve/Injured list — some the Lions, again, know only well.

There were two other proposals put forward for consideration. Firstly, submitted by Pittsburgh, it is suggested that clubs receive have one video or phone call with a prospective unrestricted free agent and his player agent; and allows clubs to arrange for the player’s travel upon agreeing to terms, during the two-day ‘legal tampering’ window, with the caveat that travel cannot occur until the beginning of the new league year.

Washington, meanwhile, has called for clubs that may qualify for the postseason to receive scouting credentials for two consecutive games (Weeks 17 and 18) played by a potential postseason opponent. The proposal was also require clubs hosting Wild Card games to provide scouting credentials to all teams within the same conference who are participating in the postseason.

Each rule will be discussed and, if accepted as credible, voted upon by the league’s ownership at the Annual League Meeting in Palm Beach at the end of the month. Full context of the proposals can be found here.