Following the San Francisco 49ers loss against the Philadelphia Eagles in last season’s NFC Championship Game, the NFL implemented a new rule allowing teams to have an “emergency third quarterback,” in case a team’s two quarterbacks are unable to play.
The NFL has released a question-and-answer sheet on the third quarterback rule, for those who are still confused by it.
Here's the full sheet, if you want to read up on it:
Q: What is an Emergency Third Quarterback?
A: A club may designate a bona fide quarterback as an… pic.twitter.com/as7mwYsPbm
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 4, 2023
Last season, 49ers’ starting quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a torn UCL in his throwing elbow early in the first quarter of the game, forcing backup Josh Johnson to step in and play. However, Johnson was knocked out of the game after being concussed in the third quarter, forcing the team to turn back to an injured Purdy.
Going forward, if something like this were to happen to the 49ers (or any NFL team for that matter), they now have the option to keep an emergency third quarterback ready to enter the game. However, some interesting caveats come with this new rule.
For instance, a team cannot designate an emergency third quarterback “if it has three or more bona fide quarterbacks on its 47/48-player gameday active list.” Additionally, teams are not able to list players who play other positions as their emergency quarterbacks.
Conversely, just because an emergency third quarterback enters the game, doesn’t mean he needs to stay in the game. If either of the first or second-string quarterbacks are assessed for their injury and medically cleared to return, they can re-enter the game.
As a result of the rules and measures put in place regarding the use of the emergency third quarterback, teams have been reluctant to place them on their roster. Devoting a roster spot to a quarterback who hopefully never sees the field while having to abide by these guidelines has made it a situation to avoid for teams.
