All NFL teams carry 53 players on their active roster. These 53 players practice with the team and get paid by the team after every regular-season game. However, all 53 players are not eligible to play in a regular-season game. Prior to each game, every team must name its inactive players. These are players who will not be allowed to put on a uniform and play in a particular game.
Inactive List
Each NFL team must come out with its list of inactive players 30 minutes prior to the start of a game. A team may come out with its list prior to that but it cannot be later. Since there are 53 players on a team's roster, the inactive list usually contains at least eight names. That brings the number of potential players down to 45. That's the maximum number of players who are allowed to play in an NFL game.
Injured Reserve
Players put on the injured reserve list at any point during the season may not play again until the following season. This can impact the number of players on the inactive list. If a team places two players on the injured reserve list once the season has started, that would leave 51 players on the active roster. In that case, the team would only have to name six players to the inactive list to get down to 45 active players for the game.
Adding New Players
Once a player has been placed on injured reserve, the team can replace that player on the roster. By signing a new player, it can once again have 53 players on the roster. The team may have no intention of making the new signee active on game days, but it still wants to add the player so the team can have full practices. When a team gets its roster back up to 53 players, it must get down to 45 on game day by making eight players inactive. Teams do not have to carry 53 players on the roster at all times, but they can if they want to have a full complement.
Third Quarterback Rule
The only exception to the inactive rule is if one of the players on that list is the team's third-string quarterback. If the first two quarterbacks get injured during the course of the game, the third quarterback can go into the game without penalty. However, once the first two quarterbacks have been injured, they cannot go back into the game if the third quarterback has entered.
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