Even though the new labor deal allows a 46th player to dress on game day and ditches the goofy and confusing emergency quarterback rule, nearly half of the league’s teams have decided, for now, not to keep three quarterbacks.
The Ravens, Bengals, Jaguars, Dolphins, Raiders, Chargers, Falcons, Packers, Saints, Giants, Rams, Bucs, and Redskins have opted to stick with two quarterbacks on the active roster.
Those who won’t have a third quarterback likely believe that, if the first two quarterbacks are injured during the same game, the team already is screwed. And devoting a third spot on the active roster to a quarterback, even if he can dress on game day, means that there will be one less spot for another position on the 53-man roster -- and one less spot on the 46-man game-day roster.
[Editor’s note: A prior version of this item incorrectly said that the 46th player on the roster had to be a third quarterback. Actually, it can be any player at any position. I have yet to come up with a way to blame the mistake on Rosenthal, but I will continue to try.]