When the NFL’s owners meet next week, they’ll take up a variety of proposed rules, bylaws, and resolutions changes from the league’s teams. The Competition Committee is expected to have a position as to most if not all of them.
On Sunday afternoon, the Competition Committee will meet to finalize its stance on the team proposals.
The most significant team proposal comes from the Packers, who have proposed new language that would impact, but not eliminate, the “tush push.” The Lions have proposed an overhaul of the playoff seeding system to remove the guaranteed home game for division winners. The Lions also want to eliminate the automatic first down for defensive holding and illegal contact.
Also, the Eagles have proposed that regular-season overtime match postseason overtime, with both teams getting a guaranteed possession — and with the time expanded from 10 minutes to 15.
Whether these team proposals carry the Competition Committee’s imprimatur (SAT word) will likely impact whether the owners view the proposals favorably, or not.
For proposals that look to be dead in the water, they could be withdrawn. For those that need more time, they could be tabled until the meetings in May.
Sports books have started taking bets on NFL teams’ 2025 win totals, and four of the top teams from last year are expected to be at the top of the league again this year.
The Eagles, Chiefs, Bills and Ravens’ win totals were set at 11.5, the highest in the NFL for this season.
Plenty can change between now and the start of the season, from the draft to trades to free agent moves to the schedule giving some teams more rest days than others. It’s possible that by the time the regular season starts, the win total expectations will be different. But right now, those four teams stand above the rest.
Next in the win total order are the Lions and 49ers, each at 10.5. The Buccaneers, Chargers, Rams, Texans, Broncos, Packers, Bengals and Commanders are all listed at 9.5 wins.
The Eagles confirmed a few previously reported changes to their coaching staff on Friday and they announced several other moves as well.
They have promoted Tyler Yelk to a defensive assistant position on Nick Sirianni’s staff. Yelk was a quality control coach in 2024 and an assistant to Sirianni during the 2023 season.
Montgomery VanGorder has been hired as an offensive quality control assistant. VanGorder held the same title at the University of Georgia for the last six seasons, so he’s familiar with a number of Eagles players who played in Athens before making the move to Philadelphia.
The Eagles have also hired Cole Peterson as the assistant to the head coach. He was the executive director of football operations at UAB for the last two seasons.
The hires of passing game coordinator Parks Frazier, quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler, and assistant offensive line coach Greg Austin rounded out the day’s announcements.
How much of a push is there to ban the tush push?
The time to put the cards on the table is coming very soon, with the league’s owners due to meet next week in Florida. That’s when proposed rule changes get a vote (or, if they’re going to fail, they get pulled or tabled).
After news first surfaced of the Packers proposing a change to the rule that allows a ballcarrier to be pushed from behind, we asked several coaches and General Managers about it at the Scouting Combine. None had a problem with it — other than Bills coach Sean McDermott, whose team uses a version of it (effectively) but who acknowledges the safety concerns.
The injury data, to the extent there is any, doesn’t show it. Obviously, it’s a high-intensity play. Former Eagles center Jason Kelce has said he’d scream “fuck my life” every time they ran it.
The question becomes whether 24 total teams are willing to un-eff the lives of current and future Eagles centers. More specifically, the question becomes whether 24 total teams will vote for a flawed proposal, which bans only the “immediate” pushing of the ballcarrier.
If the league wants to get rid of the tush push, the simplest fix would be to revert to the pre-2006 rulebook, which prohibited both pulling and pushing of the ballcarrier. Alternatively, pushing of the ballcarrier could be banned within the tackle box. Or within two yards of the line of scrimmage.
We’re mentioning it because of this observation about a tush-push ban from Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com: “I feel like it’s getting more momentum in terms of those opposed to it than I’ve ever heard before.”
That’s all relative, of course. If there’s never been much momentum against the play (and there hasn’t been), any momentum would be more than ever before.
All that matters for present purposes is 24. Is there a proposal, any proposal, that would get 24 owners to support it. Most importantly, would that proposal truly ban the maneuver?
The Packers’ proposal would merely delay it. If there are 24 owners who want to get rid of it entirely, it would be very easy to do it. The fact that there’s no clean and simple and direct proposal that would ban the play suggests that the league remains a long way away from having the requisite 24 votes.
Matt Stevens, a safety on the Patriots’ 2001 Super Bowl XXXVI championship team, died March 20, the team announced Thursday. Stevens was 51.
Stevens entered the NFL as a third-round pick of the Bills in 1996.
He played eight seasons, spending time in Buffalo, New England, Philadelphia, Washington and Houston.
In the Patriots’ 2001 championship season, Stevens appeared in all but one game and totaled 43 tackles in 15 regular-season games. He added six more tackles in the three playoff victories, including the Super Bowl XXXVI victory over the Rams.
Stevens appeared in 108 games, recording 301 tackles, 13 interceptions and a sack.
In 2007, Stevens was involved in a motorcycle accident that injured his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. He participated in clinical trials for the ReWalk device in 2011, a wearable exoskeleton that enabled him to regain mobility with the assistance of special leg braces.
The Patriots said in a statement that, “Matt Stevens’s legacy is marked by his contributions to professional football, his determination to overcome personal adversity, and the inspiration he provided to many through his resilience and dedication.”
