Should the NFL reinstate an emergency QB rule after the 49ers’ playoff disaster? Jerry Jones of the Cowboys is in favor

MOBILE, Ala. – Nearly 12 years after the rule was repealed, the push for change ignited Sunday afternoon in the NFC championship game.

Should the NFL mandate that teams carry a third available quarterback on their game day rosters? Or maybe at least for the playoff games?

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones says he supported that guideline.

“I’m really in the game to have a third quarterback,” Jones said Wednesday from Senior Bowl practice, according to Yahoo Sports. “I would be a professional. I’ve always been in favor of the quarterback and increasing the numbers. I would be there for that.”

To be clear, as Jones mentioned, NFL teams can dress a third quarterback for games right now. But it was a requirement for that Canceled before the 2011 season.

From 1991 to 2010, the NFL required teams to name an emergency third quarterback on their game-day roster, if inserted before the fourth quarter, to prevent the team’s top two quarterbacks from playing the rest of the game. The league later scrapped that rule and instead expanded game-day rosters from 45 to 46 players. The teams were no more. necessary To provide third-down depth at quarterback, continue to carry three quarterbacks in free agency, or provide that spot for depth, perhaps at another injury-plagued position, such as linebacker.

The result: NFL teams rarely carry an active third quarterback in games.

in the year San Francisco 49ers‘The game against the NFC championship Philadelphia Eaglesthat was expensive.

The rule, for San Francisco, would have limited support. The 49ers were already starting the third quarter of the season Trey Lance and broke his ankle Jimmy Garoppolo he broke his foot. In the conference championship game, the rookie of the seventh round Brock Purdy he tore a ligament (UCL) in his throwing elbow, then a veteran walk-on Josh Johnson was dismissed with a thump.

The 49ers were forced to choose between all-purpose weapons Christian McCaffrey Switching to the Wildcat quarterback or Purdy playing under center, unable to throw with power or depth. All-Pro tight end George Kittle he accepted the team’s playbook was essentially reduced to 15 plays.

The story continues

Boundaries doomed San Francisco lost 31-7 in one game Philadelphia entered as a 2.5-point favorite.

Jones said league management expects to review the rule in the offseason. One possible change could be adding a quarterback spot to the current game day roster number, at least for the playoffs.

The league changed the overtime rules to allow both teams at least one possession in the playoffs Kansas City Chiefs they came together to win Buffalo Bills in overtime last season, where the Bills offense ever had the ball. Could a similar pattern follow?

“That’s the best way to start and the best way to make decisions, I would say, when you have examples in very sensitive times,” Jones said of the rule changes that have affected playoff outcomes. “And boy, we don’t want a team without a quarterback watching 50 million people in these matches”.

The league introduced more flexibility in roster cuts in 2020, as COVID-19 sidelined players for the rest of the year. Practice squads were expanded, veteran practice squad rules were loosened and teams were allowed to move players from the practice squad to the active roster at the end of the week.

A similar structure to a quarterback rule could protect teams from draft emergencies while preventing teams from hoarding an absurd collection of talent at one position in a league with arguably insufficient supply.

If players remain on practice squads during the week only to step up as emergency quarterbacks at the end of the week, they can still be snapped up by opponents willing to commit to them on the 53-man roster.

“As we saw during the Covid era, you can add [players]” Jones said. “The Union wants to have a lot more players on the roster. So from a club standpoint, you want to be really efficient in terms of the number of players you have on your team. That would expand that. You say, what you’re OK with is another quarterback on the roster, maybe You have placed one in the practice group.

“But I agree that we can’t ignore it when we have a team that’s been short at quarterback.”