Jason Kelce recounts battle for 'tush push' at NFL owners meeting
"Jason, you saved the 'tush push.'"
That's how Jason Kelce's brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end and "New Heights" podcast co-host Travis Kelce, opened the discussion on the elder Kelce's visit to the NFL owners meetings last Wednesday.
During the most recent episode of the podcast, Jason recounted his experience traveling to Minneapolis for the meeting and why he was invited into the room for the "tush push" debate.
"I was just there to offer my frame of reference on the pushing of tushes," Kelce said.
"There was a narrative out there that one of the reasons I retired was because of the play, or that I somehow felt like the play led to more injuries or was injured because of it. So I was really just there to offer my perspective on that stuff not being true and the fact that I think it's a relatively safe play."
Kelce said Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie kicked off the "tush push" conversation before asking his team's former center to take over. The seven-time Pro Bowler said he talked about dispelling the rumors about his reason for retirement before answering some questions about his experience running the play as a recently active player.
Of all of the owners present, Kelce said Lurie stood out among the rest of the owners because of his passion for the play and how it has helped the Eagles succeed in recent years. However, he said that it was clear all of the owners had good intentions, "not just in this proposal, but in all the proposals."
Ultimately, the NFL owners voted not to ban the "tush push." Although 22 owners voted for the rule change, the mark fell short of the 24 "yes" votes necessary to implement the ban.
"It was just awesome to witness, honestly," he said. "The legislative process of the NFL – how the owners vote on it, how these proposals come about. I couldn't help but think, 'I can't believe I'm in this room right now.' There's just, like, hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth just sitting here.
"I really did leave the room and the meeting feeling strongly about how these proposals come about, how the game has changed, and the thought that goes into it, the thoroughness that happens between the competition committees and the health and safety doctors and individuals, and Roger and the owners. There's a lot that goes into a lot of these decisions that are made, and it was awesome to witness something that, in my opinion, has made the league better."
The former Eagles center also discredited a social media-borne rumor that he had made someone cry at the owners meetings with his defense of the "tush push."
"I can guarantee you that nobody cried," he said.