Eagles

Former NFL linebacker and special teams player Bryan Braman, who rose from undrafted free agent to Super Bowl champion, died Thursday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 38.

“You look at his journey and beating the odds to make it to the NFL after going undrafted,” Braman’s agent Sean Stellato told KPRC-TV in Houston. “Not only making it, but producing and becoming a world champion, he had a real hard journey. … To die at age 38, the game of football and his family are hurting today. He was a staple for what football and underdogs are about.”

Stellato told the station that he had learned from one of Braman’s closest friends that the former Long Beach City College player “took his last breath while surrounded by friends and family.”

Braman graduated from Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Wash., and redshirted for a year at Idaho before playing at LBCC in 2007 and 2008. He transferred to West Texas A&M in 2009.

After going undrafted in 2011, Braman signed with the Houston Texans and remained for three seasons, playing in 46 games, mostly on special teams. In the final game of his rookie season, Braman earned the admiration of Texans fans when he tracked down and tackled Tennessee’s Marc Mariani after losing his helmet earlier in the play. The following season, Braman was a Pro Bowl alternate on special teams.

“We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Bryan Braman,” the Texans wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Braman family during this difficult time.

Braman went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2014-2016, then signed with them again late in the 2017 season for a playoff run that culminated in a 41-33 victory against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.

“During his four seasons in Philadelphia, Bryan was a loyal teammate, a supporter of the community, and a valuable member of our Super Bowl LII-winning team,” the Eagles said in a statement. “More importantly, he was a devoted father who passionately loved his family and everyone around him.”

According to a GoFundMe page set up for Braman in February, he was battling “a very rare form of cancer.” Several of Braman’s former teammates contributed to the fund, including retired Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, who donated $10,000.

On Thursday, Watt also paid tribute to his late teammate on X.

“Rest in Peace brother,” Watt wrote in a post that also featured a photo of Braman in his Texans uniform. “Gone far too soon.”

NFL owners have decided to keep the “Tush Push,” the signature short-yardage play of the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, after a vote Wednesday at their spring meeting in Minneapolis.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that the vote was 22-10 in favor of the ban, falling short of the 24 votes it needed to go into effect.

The “Tush Push” is a version of a quarterback sneak in which two or three players line up behind the signal caller and help drive him forward in short-yardage situations.

The Eagles — who also call the play the “Brotherly Shove” — have been nearly flawless in executing the push since 2022, with two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts carrying the ball. During that span, ESPN reports, the Eagles and Buffalo Bills have run the play more than the rest of the NFL combined, with a far greater success rate (87% for Philadelphia and Buffalo compared to 71% for the rest of the league).

Also during the past three seasons, the Eagles have scored 27 touchdowns and recorded 92 first downs using the play, according to ESPN.

“Push on,” the Eagles said in a graphic posted on X after the vote results came out. The team also posted a 26-minute video of “Tush Push” highlights on YouTube.

A proposal by the Green Bay Packers to ban the play was tabled at the NFL’s annual league meeting in April. The Packers submitted a revision this week to prohibit “an offensive player from pushing, pulling, lifting or assisting the runner except by individually blocking opponents for him.”

The initial proposal had called for those restrictions only to be in effect “immediately at the snap.”

The proposal cited “player safety” and “pace of play” as reasons for the ban, although many opponents of the play seem to focus on the former argument. Others have questioned the play’s place in football, suggesting it is more of a rugby move, and that its perceived automatic nature, at least when the Eagles run it, is bad for the game.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni defended his team’s use of the play while speaking with reporters in February.

“We work really, really hard, and our guys are talented at this play. And so it’s a little insulting to say just because we’re good at it, it’s automatic,” he said.

“The fact that it’s a successful play for the Eagles and people want to take that away, I think it’s a little unfair.”

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and retired Philadelphia center Jason Kelce addressed the team owners Wednesday before the vote. Kelce had explained on the most recent episode on his and brother Travis Kelce‘s “New Heights” podcast that he was going to Minneapolis “to answer any questions people have” about the safety of the play.

“I’m just going to offer, if anybody has any questions about the tush push, or whether I retired because of the tush push, I’ll tell you, I’ll come out of retirement today if you tell me, ‘All you gotta do is run 80 tush pushes to play in the NFL,’” Kelce said. “I’ll do that gladly. It’ll be the easiest job in the world.”