In the 2022 NFC Championship Game, the San Francisco 49ers were at a serious disadvantage when their top two quarterbacks — starter Brock Purdy and backup Josh Johnson — were each injured in the game. By the end of the Philadelphia Eagles’ 31-7 win, 49ers head coach and offensive shot-caller Kyle Shanahan was stuck with running back Christian McCaffrey as his quarterback, because of the NFL’s rules regarding emergency third quarterbacks.
At the league meetings in Minneapolis on Monday, the NFL’s Competition Committee strove to make sure no other team would be in a similar situation by implementing a third quarterback rule. The league had a rule from 1991 through 2010 by which teams could dress a third quarterback without using an active roster spot on game, but for whatever reason, that went away in 2011.
Now, it’s back. Because with all due respect to McCaffrey, one of the league’s best running backs, nobody wants to see this again.
From the NFL:
One hour and 30 minutes prior to kickoff, each club is required to establish its Active List for the game by notifying the Referee of the players on its Inactive List for that game. Each club may also designate one emergency third quarterback from its 53-player Active/Inactive List (i.e., elevated players are not eligible for designation) who will be eligible to be activated 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 (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). If either of the injured quarterbacks is cleared by the medical staff to return to play, the emergency third quarterback must be removed from the game and is not permitted to continue to play quarterback or any other position, but is eligible to return to the game to play quarterback if another emergency third quarterback situation arises.
A club is not eligible to use these procedures if it carries three quarterbacks on its game day Active List [47- or 48-players in 2023].
