While the NFL continues to allow the Tush Push, the Philadelphia Eagles are dealing with growing concerns over their usage of the play. During the 2025 season, amid calls to ban the Tush Push, the Eagles struggled to execute it as effectively as before, and it could be due to center Cam Jurgens not being as healthy. Recently, while discussing his experience with the Tush Push, Jurgens revealed that the play might have been one of the factors aggravating his injuries.

“Lining up and you just know that you’re about to get this first down, and it does feel good,” Cam Jurgens said recently on Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. “But then I’m just in the middle, and sometimes it’s like, we’ll run that play, and I’ll be on the bottom of the pile, not knowing if we got the first down or not. Just not knowing where I’m at and then all of a sudden they’re yelling at me to get up and run another play.”

“I’m like, did we get first down? What’s going on, guys? It takes you a little bit to like, get back to reality after you run that play, especially if you’re running it back-to-back-to-back.”

Cam Jurgens earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2025, but injuries clearly limited him. After undergoing back surgery last year, Jurgens missed OTAs and saw limited reps in training camp. When the 2025 season began, his mobility wasn’t quite the same. Then came a midseason knee injury that sidelined Jurgens for some games. So, when you connect the dots, it’s fair to wonder whether repeated exposure to a high-impact play like the Tush Push made things worse for Jurgens. 

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The Tush Push is a play in which players line up behind the quarterback and drive him forward for short-yardage gains, and it has been an incredibly efficient play for the Eagles in recent years. During the 2024 season, the Eagles converted 81% of such attempts on third- and fourth-and-1.

However, in the past season, the Eagles converted just 21 of 33 attempts on Tush Push with a 63.6% success rate. Things got so bad that during the Week 13 matchup against the Chicago Bears, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts fumbled during a Tush Push attempt, and Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright ripped it off his hands. That turnover shifted momentum and helped seal a 24-15 victory for the Bears. 

Hurts himself admitted that executing the Tush has become tougher as defenses have been attacking the QB more when it comes to the play. Still, instead of abandoning the play, the Eagles leaned more into it. While playing against the New York Giants in Week 6, the Eagles ran four consecutive Tush Push plays inside the opposition’s 3-yard line. The drive took two full minutes and ended with a touchdown for the Eagles. 

However, that same sequence came with consequences for both the Giants and Eagles’ players. Giants defensive tackle D.J. Davidson suffered a knee injury on the final Tush Push and was ruled questionable to return. Meanwhile, Jurgens revealed that he couldn’t even walk the next day because of the four consecutive Tush Push plays. 

Jurgens isn’t the only one who has shed some light on the physical toll that Tush Push takes on players. Former Eagles center Jason Kelce also revealed that he retired after years of physical wear and tear from the Tush Push.

“For me, as a center, it sucks,” Jason Kelce said on The Steam Room podcast last year. “It’s a grueling play where you’re going to get as low as possible. If I get grass on my facemask, I probably did the play pretty good, because I got as low as possible and drove forward. If you get low and drive forward, it’s really hard for the defense to stop it.”

Jason Kelce also explained the brutal reality of the trenches, noting that centers can end up with multiple 300-pound players collapsing on top of them. That kind of repeated impact doesn’t just hurt, but it accumulates for players like Cam Jurgens.

Will Tush Push be banned from the NFL due to growing concerns?

Last year, the Green Bay Packers submitted a proposal to the NFL to ban the Tush Push, citing both player safety concerns and questions about the play’s place in football. Twenty-two NFL teams reportedly supported the idea, but when NFL owners voted on it in May, the proposal fell short. According to ESPN, the lack of concrete injury data ultimately swayed several NFL teams against banning the play. 

For now, the NFL isn’t actively considering any proposals to ban Tush Push, but that doesn’t mean the conversation is over. Recently, Competition Committee Co-Chairman Rich McKay made it clear that discussions over Tush Push are still underway.

“I don’t know that it’s the end of the debate,” McKay said at the 2026 NFL Combine. “I think there’s still people who are concerned with the whole pushing element.”

McKay also suggested that Tush Push might naturally fade as defenses continue to adapt. But NFL teams have continued to raise concerns over how the Eagles have made several false starts while executing the Tush Push, and most of them were missed by the referees. So, for now, McKay noted that the NFL’s focus remains on officiating plays like the Tush Push.

So, it would be surprising if the Eagles suddenly abandoned the Tush Push in 2026, given how central it has been to their identity. But if more players like Cam Jurgens continue to raise concerns over the play, the pressure on the NFL to reconsider its stance on the play will only grow.