6 rings: Emergency (QB) rant about the NFL's new rule change
Earlier this offseason, following the San Francisco 49ers loss to the Eagles in the NFC Championship game when both Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson got hurt, the NFL re-implemented a rule allowing teams to designate an “emergency quarterback” that doesn’t count towards the game day roster.
On Monday afternoon, however, they clarified said rule with a league-wide email outlining some FAQ’s. Here’s one snippet:
Q: What is an Emergency Third Quarterback?
A: A club may designate a bona fide quarterback as an Inactive/Emergency Third Quarterback for a regular-season or postseason game. The player must be listed on the Gameday Administration Report that is submitted prior to or at the 90-minute meeting, subject to the following:
1. The Emergency Third Quarterback must be on the club’s 53-player roster; the player cannot be an elevated Practice Squad player. The club’s starting quarterback (QB1) and its backup quarterback (QB2) must also be on the club’s 53-player roster.
2. A club must have two bona fide quarterbacks on its 47/48-player gameday active list to designate an Emergency Third Quarterback.
3. A club cannot designate an Emergency Third Quarterback if it has three or more bona fide quarterbacks on its 47/48-player gameday active list.
The problem? The language regarding “The club’s starting quarterback (QB1) and its backup quarterback (QB2) must also be on the club’s 53-player roster,” never existed until Monday.
This directly relates to the Patriots’ current quarterback situation. The team kept just one QB, Mac Jones, on their active 53-man roster following cut downs last week. Presumably, the plan would be to elevate Bailey Zappe, who was successfully waived and added to the practice squad, on game day as their backup quarterback. Something they would be allowed to do a maximum three times before having to add him to their active roster.
With the addition of Matt Corral last week, New England would likely have named him as the emergency quarterback after the elevation of Zappe. Following Monday’s rule clarification (change), however, that is no longer possible.
There’s no way of knowing whether or not this was actually in Belichick’s plan, but adding this addendum now doesn’t make much sense and is disadvantageous to teams (like the Patriots) who may have made their roster cuts with the original ruling in mind.
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