New Eagle Aj Dillon Hopes He Gets To Rush The Tush Push

New Eagle AJ Dillon hopes he gets to rush the Tush Push originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Before joining the Eagles in March, running back AJ Dillon spent the first five years of his NFL career playing for the Packers, the team that proposed a rule that would make his current team’s signature play disappear.

That’s not lost on the 27-year-old running back.

Dillon, who spoke with NBC Sports Philadelphia over Zoom during a busy day for the Dillon Family Foundation in Wisconsin, clearly doesn’t think the Tush Push should be banned.

“Funny enough, I do a podcast with my brother-in-law,” Dillon said. “He’s here in Green Bay, where we started it. I was giving him a lot of flak for that, a lot of flak for that. I’m like, ‘You ban the play just because it works really well? Why don’t you come up with a play to stop it?’ Week 10 (Eagles vs. Packers in Green Bay) will be interesting. That will be a lot of fun. A lot of smack-talking going on for sure.”

The Packers earlier this offseason proposed a rule change that would eliminate the push element of the Eagles’ famous play. That rule proposal was tabled in early April at the NFL owner’s meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, but could come up for another vote next week in Minnesota.

The fate of the Tush Push has been a hot topic all offseason, but Dillon is hoping the play sticks around long enough for him to get in on it during the 2025 season.

“Absolutely,” Dillon said. “I think it’s the most efficient play in football. At least while the Eagles have been running it. I don’t know exactly what the stats are but ballpark range 90% first downs. I definitely want to be on that side of it rather than trying to stop.”

Dillon has been at the NovaCare Complex in Philadelphia for the offseason program but flew back to Green Bay on Friday for his Dillon Family Foundation. His Carry for a Cause campaign was packing and distributing 1,400 backpacks to combat hunger in Wisconsin and Dillon was attending the Pickleball for a Purpose event later in the day benefitting his foundation.

But after that, Dillon will be back on a plane to Philly for more spring workouts.

The Eagles earlier this week released a video of Saquon Barkley squatting an insane amount of weight with Dillon behind him watching and clapping. Both of the Eagles’ running backs are known for their massive quads.

“It’s been fun,” Dillon said. “That first rack, Rack 1, we got a lot of big fellas up there lifting. It’s a good time. I like that everything within the Eagles is about competition and competing but making each other better. It’s been fun. 

“Whether it’s arm day or we’re sprinting one day or we’re doing squats or deadlifts, whatever it is, that first rack is always going to have a lot of weights on there. It’s been fun, man, it’s been a lot of fun. A lot of trash talking going back and forth. But, hey, we’re putting weight up.”