NFL teams will be allowed to dress a third QB on game days without using an active roster spot this season, the NFL announced Monday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The new bylaw allows a team activate a third QB “during the game, if the club’s first two quarterbacks on its game day Active List are not able to participate in the game due to injury or disqualification.”
- The new rule was approved Monday at the Spring League Meeting in Minnesota.
- Its approval follows the 2022 NFC Championship Game that saw the 49ers have to re-insert an injured Brock Purdy into the game after backup Josh Johnson entered concussion protocol.
What the rule says
The emergency activation “cannot be a result of a head coach’s in-game decision to remove a player from the game due to performance or conduct.” And if either of the injured quarterbacks initially designated as active for the game are cleared by the medical staff to return to play, the emergency third quarterback must be removed from the game.
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The league said the roster rule was being made for the “integrity of the game.”
Why change the rule?
The 49ers, of course, were left without a quarterback in the conference championship – and thus had no real chance of winning the game – after both Purdy and his backup, Johnson, were hurt. At the time Jimmy Garoppolo still was recovering from a foot injury and was unavailable while Trey Lance was on injured reserve with a broken ankle. If the third-quarterback rule were in effect, they could have added someone else to the game-day roster, perhaps Jacob Eason, who was waived earlier in January or Kurt Benkert, who spent the first half of the season on the practice squad. Would they have beaten the Eagles with Eason or Benkert? Probably not. But the game, which ended 31-7, certainly would have been more competitive. — Barrows
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How have the 49ers addressed their quarterback depth after the nightmarish end to the 2022 season? The team seems increasingly optimistic Purdy will return from his elbow injury at some point in training camp, which means he has a shot of being on the field for the Sept. 10 opener in Pittsburgh. If not, the start will go to either Lance or free-agent addition Sam Darnold. The 49ers also signed Joe Burrow’s longtime backup, Brandon Allen, in free agency. And they signed Oregon State’s Jack Colletto after the draft. Colletto’s official position is fullback, but he took a lot of quarterback snaps with the Beavers. He’d be the 49ers’ very last choice to play that role. Then again, if he had been on last year’s roster, he certainly would have been running the offense in the second half in Philadelphia. — Barrows
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How this affects San Francisco moving forward
The NFL’s new bylaw specifies that the third emergency quarterback must be on the 53-man roster — and not just on the practice squad. If that quarterback is designated for emergency duty, he won’t count against the 46-man game day total.
How does it influence the 49ers’ roster dynamics moving forward? Simply put, it further incentivizes them to carry three QBs — Purdy, Lance and Darnold — on the 53-man roster, because there’s less dead weight if one of those three won’t count against the game day limit. If this rule had been in place last season, the 49ers would’ve likely signed another veteran down the stretch run and had him in the emergency position for when disaster struck in Philadelphia. — Lombardi
Required reading
- Every NFL team’s 2023 regular-season schedule
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(Photo: Bill Streicher / USA Today)