$500,000,000 49ers owner Jed York lauds Jason Kelce's fight for tush push's continuity

Jason Kelce has been a key figure supporting the quarterback sneak, aka "tush push," since the later years of his playing career. On Wednesday, the highly publicized proposal to ban the play fell two votes short of the 3/4ths majority needed for ratification, and he was said to be a key motivator behind it.

The San Francisco 49ers had been one of the 22 teams that voted for the ban, and their half-billion-dollar CEO Jed York praised the former Philadelphia Eagles center for his advocacy:

Besides the Eagles, these are the teams that voted against the ban, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter:

• Baltimore Ravens
• New England Patriots
• New York Jets
• Detroit Lions
• Cleveland Browns
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Miami Dolphins
• Tennessee Titans
• New Orleans Saints

When asked about the failure of the proposal, competition committee chairman (and Atlanta Falcons CEO) Rich McKay said:

"We took all the necessary vote counts & realized that was not a rule that was ready to be passed... 24 is a high bar & it should be.”

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Jason Kelce was asked about "tush push" on New Heights

Going back to Jason Kelce, the issue of the tush push ban came up during the latest episode of his and his brother Travis' podcast New Heights. He recalled:

“There were some things said at the last owners’ meetings. Some of the owners and coaches hinted that I stopped playing because of the Tush Push and that I got hurt on the Tush Push frequently. I’m just going to answer any questions people have about my partaking in this play.”

During the previous owners' meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula alleged that the one-time Super Bowl champion had retired because of the stress that the tush push had put on his body. Meanwhile, Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy claimed to have heard him say that the "grueling" play "sucks for a center" like him.

But Kelce offered to approach the rest of the owners to dispel such notions:

“There’s not any data to suggest that it’s unsafe. I’ll come out of retirement today if you tell me all I gotta do is run 80 tush pushes to run in the NFL. I’ll do that gladly! It’ll be the easiest job in the world.”

Among the teams that voted for the ban were the Bills, who ironically had seen success with the play with reigning MVP Josh Allen in 2024.