There’s an ongoing assault against the tush push. And one of the reasons for removing it from the rulebook is player safety. If so, it’s fair to know what the players think.
It became clear last week that the tush-push opponents are pointing to two things: safety and aesthetics. On the former, there’s no injury data to support that it presents a heightened risk of injury. It’s all hypothetical and speculative.
And incomplete.
What does the NFL Players Association think about the tush push? On Monday afternoon, the union declined to comment on any internal discussions about the play.
Regardless, if it’s truly a safety issue, the union should be involved. The union needs to be involved. If the union isn’t involved, it looks like it’s not a safety issue. It looks like safety is being used as a pretext to remove the play from the game.
Maybe the NFL hasn’t involved the union in the analysis because the league fears the union would say something like this: Since there’s no data to support that it’s an unacceptable injury risk, we’re OK with it; why aren’t you?