The National Football League has approved a new quarterback rule this offseason, allowing teams to dress a third QB, and 47th active player on gamedays.

“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,” wrote Ari Meirov on Monday.

“All teams can now dress 3 QBs moving forward.”

San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy suffered an elbow injury against the Philadelphia Eagles after being sacked on the final play of his team's first offensive series last season.

He was hit during a pass attempt that resulted in a fumble, and the rookie did not return for the rest of the first half. With Jimmy Garoppolo getting injured in Week 13, the 49ers backup quarterback at the time, Josh Johnson, was forced to enter the game.

But Johnson was also injured after stepping into the contest to replace Purdy; he was evaluated for a concussion in the third quarter. With two injured quarterbacks, San Francisco was in a brutal situation, and Purdy was forced back into the game although he clearly was not at all 100 percent.

The 23-year-old was revealed to have a torn UCL, which ended his season after the team's loss to the Eagles. Purdy underwent surgery in the offseason and is expected to resume throwing 12 weeks post-elbow surgery, which is around the early June mark.

This new rule will combat another situation similar to that occurring in an NFL game, in the unlikely event that both the starting and backup quarterbacks are forced to leave a game with injury.