Just when you thought the NFL couldn’t get anymore bizarre this season, the Denver Broncos just raised the bar.
The Broncos will not have an active quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Saints.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The Broncos will not have an active quarterback on Sunday.
On Thursday, Denver backup quarterback Jeff Driskel tested positive for COVID-19. On Saturday, fellow quarterbacks Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, and Blake Bortles were caught not wearing masks while at the team facility and were deemed high-risk close contacts, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Denver would practice Saturday afternoon, but offensive quality control coach Rob Calabrese ran the offense during practice. James Palmer of The NFL Network mentioned that Calabrese was ‘honestly considered’ to be the quarterback for Sunday, but the league would not allow the team to sign him for the game.
Schefter has also reported that the Broncos will not be forfeiting their game against New Orleans.
Denver will activate WR Kendall Hinton from their practice squad and he will be taking plenty of snaps at quarterback against New Orleans. Hinton played in 22 games as a quarterback in college for Wake Forest. Hinton completed 53% of his passes for 1,504 yards, eight touchdowns, and seven interceptions. In those 22 games, Hinton also ran for 12 touchdowns.
During games running back Royce Freeman has been named the emergency backup if needed.
There has been something similar to this situation when the Carolina Panthers decided to run the “wildcat” formation the entire game with their running backs in 2006. John Fox was the head coach and with his top two quarterbacks out he decided to allow DeAngelo Williams and DeShaun Williams to run the ball. Carolina would run the ball 52 times for 183 yards and would win the game 10-3 over the Atlanta Falcons. Some believe that John Fox is the man who invented the wildcat formation, except in this game Fox called the formation “Tiger.”
The NFL has told the Broncos that the game is still on, but Vic Fangio and Pat Shurmur might need to be calling John Fox on how he ran the wildcat formation back in 2006 and how he won a game with Tim Tebow back in 2011 completing only two passes against the Chiefs.
Bottom line, this will be one of the most unique situations in NFL history and will be must-watch TV.
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