Patriots may not be able to take advantage of new emergency QB rule?

Oct 10, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick reacts during the second quarter against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The New England Patriots received lots of attention last week for seemingly outsmarting the rest of the league with their quarterback moves. But the league has said “not so fast, my friend.”

Last week, the Patriots cut both Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham, meaning they only had one quarterback on their 53-man roster: Mac Jones. The team later signed Zappe and Cunningham to their practice squad after the players cleared waivers.

By not having the players on their 53-man roster, many thought the Patriots had given themselves more flexibility for other positions. While they gained some roster flexibility, they likely lost the ability to take advantage of the emergency quarterback rule.

First, the Pats claimed Matt Corral off waivers, adding him to their active roster. He is their only other quarterback on the 53-man roster besides Jones. Unless New England makes a change to their active roster, they will not be able to utilize the new emergency quarterback rule.

The NFL on Monday distributed some specific rules regarding the new emergency quarterback rule. The rule states that an emergency third quarterback cannot be a player elevated from a team’s practice squad (this had always been the case from when the rule was added earlier this year). Importantly, the rule now states that in order to use an emergency quarterback, a team must have three quarterbacks on its 53-man roster. That clarification is new.

The NFL has distributed specifics regarding its third quarterback rule today.

The specifics eliminate the Patriots’ option of elevating Bailey Zappe from the practice squad Sunday AND making Matt Corral the emergency/3rd QB.

Details here: pic.twitter.com/yTH4OyW5Vm

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) September 4, 2023

The rule always had stated that the emergency quarterback would have to have come from the 53-man roster and not be an elevated practice squad player. So the Patriots would not have been able to use Zappe (or Cunningham) as their emergency quarterback unless either player were added to the 53-man roster, which would necessitate a player to be cut from the active roster.

Where Bill Belichick may have tried to outsmart the league had to do with the QB2 designation. While the rule said an emergency quarterback had to be on the 53-man roster, it did not say that the backup quarterback had to be on the 53-man roster.

It’s possible Belichick was planning to promote Zappe from the practice squad to the active roster to serve as QB2 three times, while making Corral the emergency quarterback in those three games. Then after that, the Patriots would have had to make room for Zappe on their 53-man roster in order to utilize him as either QB2 or QB3 on game days.

The league’s clarification of the rule now prevents the Patriots from elevating Zappe off the practice squad to QB2 while having Corral as the emergency quarterback. To be clear, the Patriots can still elevate Zappe three times to QB2, but they wouldn’t also get to use an emergency quarterback those weeks.

The Patriots are not alone in this situation. As of last week’s roster cuts, only 13 teams were carrying three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. That means less than half of the league would be able to take advantage of the new emergency quarterback rule.