NFL owners approve rule proposal allowing emergency QB to dress in wake of 49ers playoff debacle

The NFL owners approved a rule change Monday that will allow an emergency third quarterback that can be activated from the inactive list during the game if the two available quarterbacks are injured or ejected. The rule was previously in effect from 1991-2010.

The decision comes in the aftermath of the NFC Championship Game where the San Francisco 49ers faced this exact situation. Starting quarterback Brock Purdy injured his throwing elbow in the game — which was later announced to be a UCL tear — leading to Josh Johnson to take over. Johnson then suffered a concussion and couldn’t return to the game. It lead to Purdy, unable to throw the ball, to have to take over on offense for the rest of the game.

The Philadelphia Eagles won the game.

It was a difficult injury situation all year for the 49ers at quarterback. Opening day starter Trey Lance broke his ankle in Week 2 and miss the remainder of the season. Jimmy Garoppolo, starter when healthy for the previous four seasons, then took over before he suffered a foot injury that led to Purdy taking over.

Under this new rule, the 49ers would have been able to activate an emergency quarterback from its 53-man roster to play the rest of the game due to the injuries to Purdy and Johnson.

San Francisco general manager John Lynch said in the aftermath of the game he thinks a rule change of this nature would be a smart idea.

“I think it’d be good for football, you’re always trying to develop these guys, but you’re always weighing that carrying three as opposed to the roster value of being able to host a full complement of position players at different positions,” Lynch said. “If the league just kind of gave you an out there, everybody would be forced to do it. You have more people in camps improving, I think it’d be good for football.””

As a part of the rule change, if either of the quarterbacks is cleared to return to action by the medical team, the emergency third quarterback must be taken out of the game.

Another stipulation to the rule is that if a team has three active quarterbacks at the start of the game, it wouldn’t be able to activate an emergency third quarterback.

The designation of who is the emergency quarterback must be made when the team decide their active and inactive lists 90 minutes before kickoff.

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