The NFL frequently tinkers with its rules about third quarterbacks, as teams don’t want to use a roster spot on a third-string quarterback who probably won’t get on the field, and the league not wanting the ugly football that would ensue if a team with only two quarterbacks saw both of them injured in the same game.
To Titans coach Brian Callahan, the answer should be a 54th spot on the roster, and a 47th active player on game day, with that last roster spot going to the third quarterback.
Callahan said after trading third-string quarterback Malik Willis to the Packers that the Titans couldn’t justify using one of their 53-player roster spots on Willis, but that if the NFL allowed a 54-player roster with the 54th player being a quarterback, that might have kept Willis in Tennessee.
“They have to be on the active roster so you have to carry three. That’s how it works. You can still practice squad a quarterback and still elevate him, but they’re still counting. It’s not like a free spot, like it comes across like you get a free spot for a third quarterback, but it’s not,” Callahan said. “It’s a roster spot, it’s a real one, and you’ve got to carry him on the 53 to get that emergency quarterback. I would love it if they just made it a 54th spot or a 47th spot on game day or whatever that is, and you can just carry a third quarterback and they can enter the game if you need them to enter the game, that would be great, but that’s not the way it works. I know they don’t necessarily want to pay a 47th spot on game day. I get how all of it works and it sounds appealing, but it’s still a roster spot at the end of the day.”
Callahan said the decision to trade Willis is less a reflection on his development than on a decision to only keep two quarterbacks, and the feeling that Mason Rudolph was more consistent as a backup to Will Levis in training camp and the preseason.
“Malik really showed well for himself,” Callahan said. “Mason just kind of continues to be the epitome of consistency.”
As recently as yesterday, the NFL attempted to tinker with the third quarterback rule again, but the NFLPA insisted that the third quarterback must be on the 53-player roster. Perhaps in 2025 the Titans will propose a rule that allows 54 players on the active roster and 47 to suit up on game days, as long as the team has three quarterbacks.