Getty Josh Allen and Matt Barkley warm up before a Buffalo Bills game.
The NFL is changing its rule regarding emergency quarterbacks, and it could have a big roster impact on a popular member of the Buffalo Bills.
As ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported, NFL owners on May 22 approved a rule that allows teams to designate an emergency quarterback from the active roster on game days. The rule will only apply to quarterbacks already on the team’s 53-man roster as practice squad players are not eligible to serve as emergency quarterbacks, even if they are elevated to the active roster.
“The emergency quarterback would be eligible for in-game activation if the rest of a team’s quarterbacks are unable to participate due to injury or ejection, but not as a result of a benching,” Seifert wrote. “If one of the other quarterbacks is cleared to return to the game, the emergency quarterback must be removed at that time and can only return if there is once again no other option.”
The rule was a response to the situation that the San Francisco 49ers faced in last season’s NFC Championship game, when they ran out of healthy quarterbacks against the Philadelphia Eagles. In Buffalo, it could give one veteran a new path to making the active roster.
New Rule’s Impact on Matt Barkley
As Cover 1 reporter Gregg Tompsett noted on Twitter, the rule will likely not have a significant impact on the Bills’ roster plans. Josh Allen is expected to be back to full health after dealing with a nagging elbow injury last season, and veteran Kyle Allen is slated as the No. 2 after being picked up this offseason.
But veteran Matt Barkley, who was on the practice squad last year and expected to return there again in the coming season, could have a potential path to making the active roster if the Bills see him as a potential emergency quarterback, Tompsett noted.
NFL owners have passed a bylaw that allows teams to have a 3rd QB in uniform (a 47th active player) on gamedays, in case of a worst case scenario situation (like the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game), per NFL Network.
All teams can now dress 3 QBs moving forward.
“Important clarification: This will be unlikely to help the Bills outside of Matt Barkley possibly making the 53 for playoff purposes because of the SF situation (you could use PS call-ups at other spots) I doubt this rule makes BUF keep 3 QB’s all season,” Tompsett wrote.
While the Bills may still opt to keep Barkley on the practice squad, the new rule could give him another pathway to the 53-man roster outside of injuries to Josh or Kyle Allen.
Matt Barkley Took Pay Cut to Stay in Buffalo
Barkley first came to the Bills in the 2018 season after then-rookie Josh Allen suffered an elbow injury. He stayed on as a mentor and grew close with Allen, with the two developing a friendship off the field. After Barkley left for the 2021 season, Allen made a pitch for him to return the next offseason.
The Athletic‘s Kaylin Kahler reported in December that the two were golfing together when Bills general manager Brandon Beane called Allen to ask for his help in convincing Von Miller to sign in Buffalo. Allen saw it as an opportunity to bring his friend back to the roster.
.@MattBarkley put it right in the bread basket. 🎯
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“I’m like, alright, well, I need you to sign Matt,” Allen said. “And he said, okay I’ll see what I can do.”
The Bills ended up re-signing Barkley to the practice squad, which the report noted was a significant pay cut. Barkley earned $358,200 on the practice squad, close to one-quarter of the $1.2 million veteran minimum salary he would have made trying for the active roster of another team.