Last-minute rule change screws Packers out of perfect Sean Clifford replacement

If the Green Bay Packers were hoping to steal a quarterback off the waiver wire after the 2024 NFL preseason, the league just made it more difficult for them to do so.

In fact, the NFL may have made it impossible for the Packers to land the ideal replacement for Sean Clifford on the Packers' roster.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Network dropped a very interesting and unwelcomed piece of news on Monday.

"NFL teams were informed that the NFLPA vetoed the revised Emergency 3rd Quarterback rule that would have allowed teams to elevate a bona fide QB from the practice squad an unlimited number of times," reports Pelissero. "So, the rule reverted to the 2023 version, which says the emergency third QB must be on the 53-man roster, not an elevation."

Teams that may have waived their third-string quarterbacks could now be forced to make room on the 53-man roster.

Packers likely to miss out on perfect Sean Clifford replacement

The Packers could have potentially sniped young quarterback Jaren Hall off of waivers from the Minnesota Vikings, had they moved on from the former fifth-round pick, but the NFL's latest rule makes it highly unlikely.

According to Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune, the Vikings were considering trying to sneak Hall on their practice squad, but after a strong preseason, they may now have to keep him on the 53-man roster. This rule change only reinforces that further.

Let's first break down what would have made Hall, in particular, the ideal replacement for the Packers and Sean Clifford.

Aside from the obvious, which is that Clifford has been bad this offseason, poaching Hall off of waivers would have meant poaching from a division rival. That's tough to beat on its own, but you'd also be doing so at the game's most important position.

In three preseason games, Hall has thrown for 339 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, earning a passer rating of 112.5.

Hall was thrust into action last year after the Kirk Cousins injury and struggled to keep his head above water. He got another opportunity late last season against the Packers, but was actually benched after struggling again. He has shown some nice progression throughout the course of the 2024 preseason with the Vikings, but even after the injury to JJ McCarthy, the Vikings have seemed content with the duo of Sam Darnold and Nick Mullens atop the depth chart.

Now that the NFL is moving away from allowing the "emergency" quarterback to be promoted off the practice squad, it stands to reason that teams might be less willing to subject their third quarterbacks to the waiver wire and might just opt to keep them on the 53-man roster to prevent all the poaching.

It's not just Hall the Packers might miss out on, obviously. If Green Bay was hoping to poach almost any young quarterback, the list is going to be much shorter now of guys hitting the waiver wire, which means teams with higher priority are going to cash in before the Packers even have the chance.

Maybe this will lead to a number of late-round pick-swap types of trades getting made before roster cuts are finalized. In that case, options could be wide open, but much more costly than previously expected.

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