Everything you need to know about NFL's new quarterback rule
NFL owners approved a bylaw proposal that will allow teams to "dress" an emergency third quarterback for gameday without having to use an active roster spot, the league announced on Monday during its spring meetings. We know reading the official wording of these NFL roster rules can be as confusing as trying to decipher the […]
NFL owners approved a bylaw proposal that will allow teams to "dress" an emergency third quarterback for gameday without having to use an active roster spot, the league announced on Monday during its spring meetings.
We know reading the official wording of these NFL roster rules can be as confusing as trying to decipher the Xs and Os of any given play while watching live so we've got you covered.
Here's everything you need to know about the league's new "emergency quarterback" rule.
Breaking down the league's new 'Emergency Quarterback' rule
- Currently, NFL teams are allowed to carry a maximum of 48 players on their "Active List." In other words, they can suit up to 48 players for any given game including their players from their 53-man roster and those week's practice squad call-ups.
- The Active List size goes down to 47 if the team has fewer than eight active offensive linemen.
- The new rule gives teams the option to suit up an extra player for gameday provided it's an emergency third quarterback. Such a player would not count toward the maximum limit of 48 active players.
- The emergency third quarterback can only play if the other two quarterbacks are hurt and unable to continue to play.
- The emergency third quarterback MUST be a member of the team's 53-man roster. In other words, he can't be a practice squad call-up.
So what does that mean for my favorite team?
That's a pretty good question and one that we'll find out when roster cutdown day comes around. The NFL owners approved the rule change after the San Francisco 49ers were forced to play Christian McCaffrey at quarterback during the NFC Championship Game in January of this year.
Probably, the new rule will incentivize teams to carry three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster in order to be able to suit up an emergency quarterback and make the most out of the rule.
But even that could be in question as teams must weigh the risk-reward of doing so.
As explained above, the emergency quarterback must be on the team's 53-man roster. Every year, multiple NFL teams prefer to go into the season carrying only two signal-callers in an effort to go long at other positions with players that are likelier to actually play.
Even 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan acknowledged following the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles that needing a third quarterback on gameday was an extremely rare occurrence.
"Just because it happened one time in my 20 years of coaching – and I go to Bobby Turner after the game, who's coached for 45 years, it's never happened to him – […] it doesn't mean you have to adjust everything after that," Shanahan told reporters right after his team was eliminated from the playoffs.
Teams who don't usually carry three quarterbacks aren't likely to change their strategy and sacrifice a spot on the 53-man roster just to be able to use an emergency third quarterback during the regular season. However, it will give them something to think about and should spark some fun conversations in meetings.
When the playoffs roll around, however, I bet most teams are likely to make use of the new rule in order to avoid a situation similar to the 49ers' earlier this year.
