WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Packers president Mark Murphy didn’t exactly give a direct answer when asked Tuesday if the NFL asked the Packers to spearhead a proposal to ban the “tush push.”
“I mean, we’re always in touch with the league,” Murphy said at the NFL league meeting.
Green Bay was the team to officially submit a proposal to outlaw the hard-to-stop quarterback sneak made famous by the Eagles, but is it a play the Packers feel that strongly about eliminating from the game or is the organization, for whatever reason, doing the league a favor?
Regardless, the Packers have caught much heat online for having their name attached to the matter. And while the man atop the Packers’ food chain didn’t exactly clarify who truly wanted the proposal drafted, he outlined why the organization is against the play, nonetheless.
Even those explanations don’t entirely add up, however. That’s because Murphy’s professed No. 1 reason for being anti-tush push, safety risks, don’t have much supporting evidence.
“In terms of safety, there haven’t been that many plays, so there wasn’t a lot of injury data, but it was a very small sample size,” Murphy said. “I was really moved by (NFL chief medical officer) Allen Sills. He felt very strongly that it was just a question of when there’d be a catastrophic injury with this.”
But how does the league forecast future safety dangers if there’s little to no evidence to back up those conclusions?
“That’s why we have a chief medical officer looking at it,” Murphy said. “And I believe (former Eagles center) Jason Kelce has made public comments about, he’s glad he’s not involved in the play anymore because he felt it was pretty dangerous. And Dr. Sills can speak for himself, but the angle of it and the nature and the makeup of the play really does lend itself (to injury). The centers and the people right in the middle of it, you’ve got that much force on both sides … I think he is right. I think a lot of people really were persuaded by it, but obviously there’s people that think it’s a safe play and no different than a quarterback sneak.”
Competition Committee co-chair Rich McKay, the Falcons CEO, said Tuesday that the Packers requested to table tush push discussion until the next league-wide gathering in May and for the early 2000s rule that prohibited pushing or pulling a ball carrier to be revisited.
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst seems to have distanced himself from the proposal when asked twice about it this offseason — he still voiced his support for it Monday — so who within the Packers organization took the lead on it?
“We were all involved and Matt (LaFleur) had to present it to the coaches, but we also worked with the league office,” Murphy said. “The competition committee was pretty strongly in favor of it as well.”
Fox Sports first reported that there were 16 teams in favor of banning the tush push, which is eight short of the required 75-percent threshold to pass the proposal. On top of safety concerns, Murphy voiced concerns over the pace of play, citing the NFC Championship Game goal-line sequence in which the Commanders repeatedly jumped offsides against the tush push.
“The other two things we relied on were from an equity standpoint, that we prohibit on field goals and extra points the defense can’t push forward and then on offense, we’re allowing it,” Murphy said. “That was a little of an issue and then just the style of the play. It’s really more a rugby play than a football play.
“I pointed out that we changed it with (tight end) Tucker (Kraft) running it, but we were 5-for-5, so it’s not really about one team being successful. I would anticipate if it’s not banned, you’re going to see more and more teams do it … It’ll come up at the May meeting and they’ll go back and basically take the language that used to be in it and then I think there will be some studies done and just look at some of the history of some of the injuries.”
Three other notable takeaways from Murphy’s 20 minutes with local media …
1. He doesn’t know, or wouldn’t say, whether the Packers are playing in Ireland against the Steelers in 2025. Steelers owner Art Rooney II said Tuesday that signs are pointing toward Aaron Rodgers joining the team, which would effectively eliminate the Packers from playing in Ireland. That’s because they’re scheduled to visit Pittsburgh next season — the Steelers are the “hosts” in Ireland — and the league would presumably rather an Aaron Rodgers-Packers game be in prime time over an 8:30 a.m. CT slot overseas.
2. This was Murphy’s last annual league meeting as Packers president, a role he’s retiring from in July once he reaches the mandatory age of 70 to step down. Murphy has served as team president for the last 17 years.
“It’s a little emotional,” Murphy said. “Ed (incoming president Ed Policy) was in every session except the last one. It was one per club and I said, ‘Ed, you should take this,’ and he said no, this is your last one … My wife always says I’m an owner without the money. A phoner (“fake owner”) is what she calls it. I think it’s one of the very best jobs in all of professional sports. We have a great structure, we’ve had success and I’m very confident that will continue. I look at it, Bob Harlan left it in great shape for me and hopefully, I’m doing the same for Ed. Hopefully, Ed will have an 18-year run like Bob and I did.”
Mark Murphy reflects at his last annual league meeting as Packers president. He reaches his mandatory retirement age of 70 in July after 17 years in the role.
“My wife likes to say I’m an owner without the money … I think it’s one of the very best jobs in professional sports.” pic.twitter.com/YDQM5NZrfe
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) April 1, 2025
3. Murphy sounds pleased with the state of the Packers from a football perspective, twice singling out Gutekunst, head coach Matt LaFleur and executive VP/director of football operations Russ Ball for the job they’re doing.
“I have a lot of confidence obviously in Brian and Matt and Russ Ball, the leadership there, and I know Ed’s been involved in the meetings, as well,” Murphy said. “I think we’re set up to win. I think we’ll do well. It was a disappointing end to the year here. It’s funny, two years in a row we made the playoffs, but two years ago when we got in, won a game, we had fewer wins in the regular season but ended up feeling better about this. But that’s the reality of the NFL. It’s hard to win and I think the fact that we’ve been able to win on such a consistent basis speaks well to the people that we have in place at the key positions. I have a lot of confidence in Brian, Matt and Russ and I know Ed will work well with them.”
(Photo: Getty Images / Al Bello)