Jacksonville Jaguars offensive co-ordinator Press Taylor wouldn't commit on Wednesday to keeping a third quarterback on the roster, which could affect Canadian Nathan Rourke's chances of making the team.
Under a new rule for the 2023 season, NFL teams can designate a player as an emergency quarterback. But that role can only be given to a player on the 53-man roster and not to someone on the practice squad.
So, the Jaguars can either keep Rourke on the 53-man roster as the third quarterback or they can waive him to try to assign him to the practice squad, making him available for another team to claim. Pro Football Talk reports that only 12 teams carried three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster last season but it's unclear for now how the new rule will change how teams manage the most important position.
Rourke is entrenched as Jacksonville's third quarterback after head coach Doug Pederson said last week that C.J. Beathard will start the season as Trevor Lawrence's backup.
"We've had those conversations here and there," Taylor said of the new third-quarterback option. "I think it's kind of a case-by-case, week-by-week basis really. There may be a situation you keep that guy on the 53, but if you're light at another position, you need the bodies and you're healthy at quarterback, maybe that week you don't have a third quarterback. ... Just like anything in this league, things can change so quickly. Everything is down to down, game to game, whatever it is. I don't know if there is one blanket philosophy we have on that situation."
The Jaguars are planning to play Lawrence for the first half of the team's pre-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.
After that?
"C.J. will get the first action coming out of the half and then Nathan will get an opportunity if the situation fits," Taylor said. "It doesn't always go that way. We're saying it, it's not stamped, it's not in concrete or anything like that. Things can change. ... C.J. continues to be our second quarterback and Nathan's continuing to compete in that third role right now."
Rourke has completed 19 of his 29 passes for 274 yards and one touchdown in parts of two pre-season games so far. Last season Rourke was the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian with the B.C. Lions after passing for 3,349 yards and 25 touchdowns in just 10 games.
The deadline for teams to trim rosters down to 53 players is Aug. 29 at 4 p.m. ET.
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