Well, this should be interesting. All three of the Denver Broncos’ quarterbacks are unavailable for Sunday’s game against New Orleans, because one of them tested positive for COVID-19 and the others then had close contact with him. The team, not the NFL, made the decision to bench all three, which provides quite a quandary playing against one of the NFC’s Super Bowl favorites in the Saints.
The Broncos had several options, but forfeiting the game was never seriously considered.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so the Broncos are dusting off practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton and throwing him into the Lions, er, Saints den to make his NFL debut as a starting quarterback.
How did the team choose Hinton? Well, he played QB in high school, and he actually started two games at quarterback at Wake Forest as a true freshman in 2015 before making the move to wide receiver.
At least he won’t get lost walking from the huddle to behind center!
Hinton put up numbers in college that might get him a look as a third-string QB in the XFL. He had 1,504 yards passing, a 53% completion percentage with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. What he lacks in career stats he doesn’t make up for in size. He stands just 6 feet tall. That works if your name is Drew Brees, but not for many other people.
What’s interesting is that the Broncos actually asked the NFL if they could suit up one of their assistant coaches. Mike Klis of 9News in Denver reported that the team asked if they could have one of their offensive quality control coaches, either Justin Rascati or Rob Calabrese, play quarterback today. The league said no.
The Broncos do realize they are ignoring their best option for today. Their team president, John Elway, knows a thing or two about playing the position. He does have one of those fancy gold jackets to show for it!
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