NFL Owners Set to Meet and What it Potentially Means for Eagles

The so-called Tush Push isn't going to be reviewed, though the Eagles have made two rules proposals, and what comes during and after the meetings

Ed Kracz/SI Fan Nation Eagles Today

The NFL owners will meet in Phoenix Sunday through Wednesday, at which time they will, among other things, take a closer look at some rules proposals for the upcoming season and perhaps vote on them.

The good news for the Eagles and probably several other teams is the so-called Tush Push isn’t on the menu of proposals to be reviewed by the league’s owners, perhaps heeding the comment made by GM Howie Roseman at the NFL Scouting Combine when he said, “just because people do something that’s really good, doesn't mean it should be outlawed.”

So, Jalen Hurts’ wildly successful quarterback sneaks will return.

Nobody did the short-yardage plays any better than the Eagles last season when faced with a yard or less to go on either third down or fourth down.

It helps to have a QB who can squat 600-plus pounds and an offensive line that is one of the best in the business at all sorts of stuff, including making like a submarine and torpedoing into a defensive wall constructed to try and stop those short-yardage plays.

The Eagles finagled the rule of being allowed to push ball carriers from behind by stationing a pair of players to Hurts’ flanks, pushing him forward after the ball is snapped.

Head coach Nick Sirianni even got creative on occasion from the in-tight formation and running quick tosses out of them.

Expect to see the formation from other teams this season, including new Broncos coach Sean Payton who is on record as saying he would do it with Russell Wilson if the league didn’t outlaw it.

Now, we know the league won’t do that.

Here are some other interesting proposals that will be looked at this week and both were submitted by the Eagles:

• Allow a team to attempt a fourth-and-20 play instead of trying an onside kick.

• Add tenths to the game clock at the end of each half.

The Lions submitted proposals that would allow for a replay review of personal fouls and another one that would give coaches more opportunity for a third, in-game challenge.

There are more than a dozen proposals in all.

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman are expected to talk with reporters at some point during the three days.

The owners and GMs could also swing another free agent deal or two since the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix will be crawling with player agents. Maybe the front office brain trusts will look to lay the groundwork for potential trades prior to or during the three days of the draft in late April.

You know Roseman will be in the thick of it.

If nothing else, when the meetings end, the free agency period likely will dry up quickly as well, because all the attention will shift to the draft once owners and general managers return to their respective cities and teams.

Most teams by now have their draft boards sketched out but those will be sharpened, fine-tuned, checked, double-checked, and cross-checked again and again until the final copy is ready to go in time for opening night, April 27.

There will be plenty of mock drafts between then, and plenty of speculation about what the Eagles will do with picks 10 and 30 in round one.

It seems inconceivable at this point that Roseman won’t try to find a way to accumulate a pick or two during the barren wasteland that, for them, are rounds four through six, where the Eagles don’t have a single selection.

NOTE: The NFL announced on Friday the offseason workout program dates for each NFL team. The league has the Eagles’ dates listed as such:

April 17: First day

May 23-25, May 30-June 1, June 5-8: OTA offseason workouts

June 13-15: Mandatory minicamp

It should be noted the Eagles haven't held a mandatory minicamp since the pandemic ended and that doesn't look like it will end this summer after how successful their approach was in navigating a long season that ended in Super Bowl LVII.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.