The NFL on Monday voted to approve a rule that allows teams to activate an emergency third quarterback on game days. Such a rule would’ve allowed San Francisco to have a third QB activated for the NFC championship game once QB Brock Purdy was out with a torn UCL in his throwing elbow, and QB Josh Johnson suffered a concussion.
There was some holdup at the NFL owners meetings in March about the rule while the league ironed out exactly how the roster machinations would work for an emergency third QB.
The way the rule is now laid out will require teams to have three QBs on their 53-man roster to use the emergency signal caller. That third player won’t need to be active on game days, but they can be activated if and only if both other QBs get hurt. If both QBs are hurt, the emergency QB can be activated and inserted into the game. If one of those players is cleared to return, the emergency QB has to exit.
So how would this have played out if the rule was in place for the NFC championship game? It depends.
San Francisco did have three QBs on its 53-man roster, but Jimmy Garoppolo hadn’t been cleared from the foot injury he suffered in Week 13 against the Dolphins. Had he been able to go, he would’ve been activated once Johnson went down. Given that neither Johnson nor Purdy were cleared to return, it would’ve been Garoppolo’s game the rest of the way.
The interesting wrinkle would’ve been whether the 49ers would’ve operated differently with that roster spot knowing there was a chance that even the inactive QB would get to make it into the game. If Garoppolo wasn’t capable of protecting himself, the team might’ve placed him on season-ending IR and replaced him with a free agent QB.
It’s hard to imagine given the team’s injury woes under center the last few years that they wouldn’t take full advantage of this rule and roster all three of Purdy, Trey Lance and Sam Darnold this year. One will start, another will work as the backup and the third will be inactive.
We can also expect the team to consistently know what the free agent QB market looks like in case one of their QBs goes down. The 49ers will likely roster three QBs all year, so they’d add one if one of their three is on an injured list.
Ideally though the 49ers won’t need to utilize the rule that came to the table because of their problems in the NFC title game. Health will be key for them this season, especially at quarterback. Expect them to keep three QBs just in case though, especially since they know that third one might determine the outcome of the most important game of the season.
