The San Francisco 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan and G.M. John Lynch were asked whether they’d support bringing back the 3rd quarterback rule.
“Yeah, I definitely would be in favor of it,” Shanahan said. “We were scared to death when that rule ended, whatever many years ago that was, but you kind of forget about it since you just don’t see anyone have to go through it, but then you get reminded of how quickly a football game is over once that happens, so I think that would be a very smart thing to have.”
But the rule ended in 2011 because, in lieu of allowing a 46th player to be an emergency quarterback, the league allowed all teams to have 46 players in uniform. Teams could choose, if they wanted, to have the 46th man in uniform be a quarterback. Many opted to not make a quarterback the 46th man on game day.
