With all of the conversations this offseason around which New Orleans Saints quarterback would earn the role as the team’s primary backup behind starting passer Tyler Shough, it began to feel like the consideration was also limiting the team to keeping only two quarterbacks on its initial 53-player roster.
However, that decision is a rarity around the NFL and the Saints, who have often kept three quarterbacks for a number of seasons now, continued their trend, matching the one that’s been growing in popularity across the league.
After the second wave of roster adjustments, 20 teams across the NFL still have three or more quarterbacks on their roster. The Saints are among the 62.5% of teams that have embraced this approach.
New Orleans kept both third-year passer Spencer Rattler (despite receiving reported trade interest about the 2024 fifth-round selection) and veteran signal caller Zach Wilson on the initial club roster through cutdowns.
With the league’s emergency third quarterback rule, teams can have an inactive passer from their 53-player roster still dress for game day in case the top-two quarterbacks become unavailable.
The rule simply requires that the third quarterback be on the 53-player roster, is inactive on game day and the team has two additional passers dressed out and active for the game. Despite efforts that were eventually vetoed by the NFL Players Association, the third quarterback cannot come from the practice squad; a common misconception.
The retention of a quarterback trio for New Orleans simply follows its typical rhythm and matches that trend around the NFL. That direction’s growing so quickly that teams with uncertainty at quarterback, teams like the Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers opted to keep four quarterbacks up to the beginning of the bonus week.
The Philadelphia Eagles also elected to keep four passers on their roster for the time being.
