if the 3rd qb is put in the game, the 1st and 2nd can't come in again?
 

can somebody explain why this is an nfl rule?

Game day roster sizes have fluctuated over the years. Since 1991, NFL teams have been allowed to dress 45 +1, with the 46th guy being the (emergency) third quarterback. The only reason you get the extra guy is if he's an emergency quarterback so you can use your 45 (the old limit) on guys who will actually play.

The reason there are restrictions about that player's use is to keep you from stashing another player and effectively dressing 46. Teams were only dressing two quarterbacks for strategic purposes because you rarely needed three. If you're going to put that player into the game prior to the 4th quarter, the cost of doing so is necessarily pretty stiff - you can't bring back either of the two guys who are supposedly healthy who are in front of him.

It used to be that if the 3rd QB entered the game at any time, the 1st and 2nd were barred from returning to the game. Now you can put the 3rd guy in in the 4th quarter with no loss of the right to use #1 or #2. And the first two guys don't have to be injured for him to go in. It's a coach's decision.

actually it's 53. so you're saying that teams actually dress 54, but only the 3rd qb can be the 54th? and he can only be put in in the 4th quarter, otherwise the first 2 qbs are not allowed in?

Actually, no, it ain't 53.

An NFL roster has 53 players on it.

You can dress 45 + 1. See above:

Four guys get deactivated prior to gameday. Four more guys get deactivated on gameday before kickoff. Then the 3rd QB is added.

That third QB can go into the game any time, but if he goes in prior to the 4th quarter, the other two QBs cannot return.

They brought back the taxi squads, sort of? I hadn't realized that.

Since they introduced this system, I've wondered whether clubs couldn't game it by being fuzzy about who counts as a "quarterback". But maybe it's no advantage to them to do this for players at any other position(s).

Robert

Did it ages ago. Probably 1991 when they introduced the 45 + 1. But surely by 1992 or 1993, when I was covering the league.

Probably not. Most teams have a third. I don't know that it's mandatory that you dress a third, but usually there's the young clipboard guy or the injured veteran who draws that duty.

And I believe the emergency quarterback does not have to follow the numbering requirement for the quarterback position? I think that's another "qualification" for an emergency quarterback. Just something I noticed in the past...maybe it's changed since.

NFL rules say they have this numbering requirement by position, but there's no definition of the positions and no good way of defining them without constraining the game more than they want to. Other than observing the in/eligible receiver numbering for team A scrimmaging, there's no rule requiring players to line up in certain places depending on their uniform number. So really it's just an unenforced convenience for the audience. I think the league does say that if you've consistently played someone at a certain position, they can make you change his number to a more appropriate one if necessary for future games.

Could you imagine if linebacker 59 set to blitz inside, and they got an illegal formation call?!

Robert

i'll be damned.

they recently changed this to where receivers can have numbers 10-19 (something like this), so maybe they also messed with other positions like the qb's. you will see weird numbers on receivers, possibly others.

They didn't mess with the numbering system for any other position in the most recent rules change.

Thanks. One reason I asked was because I remember the controversy when Brian Bosworth was drafted by the Seahawks and wanted number 44, but the NFL said fine as long as you don't line up at linebacker. But then again, that was years ago. Other reason, I seem to remember a team having to use a wide receiver a few years ago as the quarterback because all their quarterbacks were on the bench being tended to by the training staff, and this receiver wore something in the 80's but was exempted from the rule because he was a declared emergency quarterback.

But your point, as well as a couple others that followed, makes more sense in what we're seeing in the NFL games now.

Bosworth was also 20+ years ago.

You can find exceptions, obviously. Brad Van Pelt wore #10 for the Giants because he was, ostensibly, their backup kicker, but that was 30+ years ago and I don't think he ever kicked anything.

I don't think they'd let a linebacker wear 44 today, either.

Remember Freddie Solomon? He was the 49ers' "disaster" quarterback for years because he had been a QB in college at the University of Tampa.

If you have to put a guy in a position in an emergency, they're not going to make him put a different number on.

I'm curious how long they're going to let Devin Hester wear #23 when he's obviously not a cornerback, no matter how they list him on the roster.

Even if it's not an emergency, but you just want to use someone at other than his usual position for the surprise value, NFL officials won't stop it. Otherwise they'd have to ban the currently popular practice (which fad actually started slowly in the late 1990s) of putting the usual QB at a WR position and snapping to someone else in the backfield. For that matter, they'd even have to ban the shotgun formation: "Hey, QB number, get out of there. 5 yards behind the spot is reserved for someone wearing a number in the 40s."

Robert

Green Bay's "personal protector" on a punt play last Monday night was their backup QB, #10. Should have been a tip-off, but wasn't, and he took the snap and ran for a first down.

The only tweaks I know of have been letting linemen (and then linebackers, I think) wear 90-99 and the wide receivers wear 10-19.

Wow, and the return team and/or its coordinator didn't catch that? Dang, if I were the coordinator, I would have been calling timeout or going crazy to make sure the guys caught it before it developed. In other words, I'd go and act like the LB coach from Nebraska, one crazy dude.