The Broncos agreed to a contract extension with Garett Bolles on Saturday, but that news was easily overshadowed by the wild development that the Broncos will be forced to play without a quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Saints.
On Thursday, third-string quarterback Jeff Driskel tested positive and left the team facility. The Broncos, as a result, canceled practice on Friday before returning for a makeup Saturday practice.
During this time, the NFL was reviewing footage of the Broncos’ practices earlier in the week and deemed Drew Lock, Brett Rypien and Blake Bortles all as players who came into close contact with Driskel, which forced all three to head home to isolate, despite continuing to test negative.
As the NFL further reviewed the practice footage, they decided all of Denver’s quarterbacks came in close enough contact with Driskel to be listed as “high-risk” for exposure to COVID-19, making all of them inactive for Sunday’s game with the New Orleans Saints.
So, where do the Broncos go from here?
They could choose to forfeit, but fortunately, that notion was quickly shot down.
It was then initially reported by 9News’ Mike Klis that third-string running back Royce Freeman would be the team’s emergency quarterback. That was a troubling proposition considering Royce Freeman has only thrown one pass in his pro and college career combined, though to be fair, it was completed for a 26-yard touchdown.
Benjamin Allbright of 850 KOA then updated that report with the news that Kendall Hinton is expected to be the Broncos’ starting quarterback for Sunday’s game.
Hinton started his college career as a quarterback for Wake Forest, before making the transition to wide receiver for his final season as a collegian. During those four years at quarterback, Kendall Hinton completed 53.0% of his 251 attempts, for 1504 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also rushed 186 times for 872 yards and 12 touchdowns during that same span.
Whatever happens, the Taysom Hill-Kendall Hinton matchup should be a wild one.
