MOBILE, Alabama — Nearly 12 years after the rule was rescinded, the momentum for change swirled around Sunday afternoon during the NFC Championship Game.
Should the NFL dictate that teams place an available third quarterback on their gameday rosters, or at least for playoff games?
Cowboys team owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he supports the guidelines.
“I’m going pro,” Jones told Yahoo Sports Wednesday from Senior Bowl practice.
To clarify, as Jones stated, NFL teams can Now dress up the third quarterback for the game. However, that obligation was canceled before the 2011 season.
From 1991 to 2010, the NFL required teams to designate an emergency third quarterback on their gameday roster. His first two quarterbacks on a team will be deemed ineligible to play the remainder of the game if entered before the fourth quarter. The league has since scrapped that rule, instead expanding its matchday roster from 45 He to 46 He. need Instead of providing tertiary depth at the quarterback, he is free to choose to continue carrying three quarterbacks or dedicate that spot to depth at another position, such as a lineman, possibly with an injury. increase.
The result: NFL teams rarely carry a third active quarterback in a game.
The San Francisco 49ers’ NFC Championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles proved to be costly.
San Francisco’s rules would have been of limited help. The 49ers had already started their third quarterback of the season after Trey Lance broke his ankle and Jimmy Garoppolo broke his leg. In the conference championship game, Round 7 rookie Brock Purdy tore a ligament in his throwing elbow (UCL) and veteran journeyman Josh Johnson was ruled out with a concussion.
The 49ers were forced to choose between shifting all-around weapon Christian McCaffrey to Wildcat quarterback or Purdy playing under center but unable to throw with power or depth. rice field. All-Pro tight end George Kittle admitted the team’s playbook had essentially shrunk to 15 plays.
Due to restrictions, San Francisco lost 31-7 in a game in which Philadelphia entered as the 2.5-point favourite.
Jones said he expects league management to review the rules this offseason. One of his possible changes, at least for the playoffs, is adding a quarterback spot to the current gameday roster numbers.
The league has changed its overtime rules to allow at least one possession by both teams during the playoffs. This was an overtime game in which the Bills offense had no ball after the Kansas City Chiefs rallied to beat Buffalo his Bills in the final postseason. Is it possible that a similar pattern will continue?
“Jones spoke about the rule change that affected the playoff outcome. “And you don’t want a team without a quarterback in these games with 50 million people watching.”
The league introduced more flexibility with roster restrictions in 2020 as COVID-19 sidelined players throughout the year. Practice teams have been expanded, rules for veteran practice teams have been relaxed, and teams have been given the option to promote players from practice teams to active rosters over the weekend.
A similar structure to the quarterback rule can both mitigate a team against quarterback emergencies and prevent a team from hiding an unreasonable collection of talent in one position.
If a player remained on the practice team for the week and was promoted as an emergency quarterback at the end of the week, an opponent willing to commit to them with a 53-man roster could still poach them.
“As we saw with COVID, we can add. [players]said Jones. “Union would like to have more players on their roster. From a club point of view, they have to be really efficient when it comes to the number of players they have on the team. You know, what you have is another roster quarterback, maybe you put one on the practice team.
“But I agree that if you have a team that is short of quarterbacks, you can’t ignore it.”
