The spring league meetings are officially underway and NFL owners on the competition committee have already approved a significant change for the 2023 NFL season.
According to multiple reports, the league has approved what will be known as the “Third QB Rule.” Teams will now be permitted to have an emergency quarterback dress for action on gameday without that player counting against the team’s gameday active list.
This rule would be beneficial to a team like the Kansas City Chiefs, who carried three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster a season ago, but made Shane Buechele inactive every week. It’d allow Buechele or another quarterback to dress for gameday, just in case.
NFL PR chief Brian McCarthy shared the full proposal on Twitter.
Here’s the full proposal that passed moments ago at the league meeting pic.twitter.com/dwO4OPWIAP
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) May 22, 2023
This comes after both Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson were injured for the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, leading to a lopsided win for the Philadelphia Eagles. This actually almost came into play for the Chiefs in the AFC’s divisional round game when Patrick Mahomes went down with a high ankle sprain against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Had Chad Henne been injured during that game, the team’s emergency backup quarterback would have been Jerick McKinnon.
Now, under the new rules, the team wouldn’t have to play someone out of position if their top two quarterbacks got hurt. There are stipulations about how the third QB can be utilized:
“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.”
Essentially, this rule only comes into play in case of emergency with injuries or otherwise.
