Two NFL rule proposals are at stake in upcoming owners’ meeting

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The NFL playoffs could look different under this proposed rule change.

NFL rules might look a bit different following upcoming league owners’ meetings scheduled for May 20-21.

Per reports from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, owners will vote on two rule-change proposals: banning the “tush push” play, and re-seeding the NFL Playoffs by record after the Wild Card round.

The NFL’s team owners previously discussed the changes in their annual Palm Beach, Florida meetings from March 30 to April 2, but tabled the discussion.

At the time, the Steelers were one of the teams that supported banning the tush push, per team president Art Rooney II.

If it’s banned, the team affected the most would be the Philadelphia Eagles. The Steelers have run variations of the play in the past, but with Aaron Rodgers or Mason Rudolph expected under center in 2025 instead of Justin Fields, don’t expect Pittsburgh to be a quarterback-run-heavy team.

If rookie quarterback Will Howard gets any snaps in the regular season, it could be a slightly different story. The 6’5, 235-pound quarterback rushed 105 times in his 2024 season with Ohio State.

The playoff re-seeding rule, proposed by the Lions, is modified from how it was originally presented at the Palm Beach meetings. Before, the proposal called for all playoff seeding to be determined by record. Now, the division winners would still get a guaranteed home game in the Wild Card games, with re-seeding only happening after the first round.

If those rule proposals pass, they won’t be the only changes to the NFL this year.

At the Palm Beach meetings earlier this spring, a proposal from the Steelers to allow teams to talk directly to players and make travel plans during the legal tampering period of free agency was voted in on a one-year trial basis with parameters.

Previously, teams had only been permitted to communicate with agents during the legal tampering period.