The Packers’ proposal did have substantial support, but it will not go receive a vote at the annual meeting this week.
On Tuesday, the NFL voted on several of the new rules proposals for the 2025 season, approving several tweaks to the existing playing rules for the upcoming year. The league’s owners voted to expand the replay assist program and to adjust the rules governing overtime and the new kickoff, and those changes will go into place for at least the coming season.
However, the Green Bay Packers’ proposal to ban the pushing of a ballcarrier from behind — outlawing the “Tush Push” — has been tabled for the time being, according to reports out of the league’s annual meeting in Florida.
Despite not being approved, Green Bay’s proposal has significant support from other teams around the league. Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports reports that 16 teams — exactly half of the total of 32 — were in favor of the change. However, because rules changes require 75% of teams to vote to approve, that proposal remains well short of the required support to pass and it evidently was never brought up for a formal vote.
In addition to the Packers’ suggestion being tabled, the league also will put off any votes on a proposal from the Detroit Lions to re-seed the playoff field based on overall record. Were that proposal approved, it would have eliminated the automatic home games for division winners, allowing Wild Card teams with better overall records to host first-round games.
On the other hand, the changes that have been approved are as follows:
- Overtime rules changed to require that both teams have an opportunity to possess the ball in overtime;
- Kickoff rules changed to move the touchback spot from the 30 to the 35-yard line; and
- Replay assist rules changed to expand the types of plays that can be automatically changed upon review by the video replay assistant.
The first two rules are relatively straightforward. The overtime previously was in place for the postseason, but now it is clearly defined for the entire regular season as well. The touchback spot change is no surprise either, as the league looks to increase the number of kickoff returns by further discouraging teams from kicking the ball into the end zone.
The replay rules change is notable, however, and contains several additions to the types of plays and penalties that can be overturned on review:
Here’s the full proposal, which applies only to objective elements of fouls called on the field. pic.twitter.com/u0a4dRe8ky
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 1, 2025
The short version of the change is that replay can help overturn any of several types of penalties when called on the field, provided that there is clear video evidence that the penalty was called incorrectly. These categories include roughting the passer (when based specifically on a hit to the head or neck), intentional grounding, unnecessary roughness penalties called on hits out of bounds, facemasks, horse-collar tackles, tripping calls, or roughing/running into the kicker penalties.
For example, this would allow replay to overturn a call for a late hit out of bounds if video clearly shows the player receiving the hit being in bounds when contact takes place. However, it would not allow the replay assistant to dictate that a flag should be thrown for a late hit if the referees did not call a penalty on the field.
The NFL will hold its spring meetings in Minneapolis, Minnesota in late May, and may vote on the tabled rules proposals at that time. For now, however, the Tush Push remains a legal play.