An undrafted, 23-year-old rookie wide receiver will start at quarterback for the Denver Broncos after all their other options were ruled out, due to COVID-19
- The Denver Broncos has no active quarterbacks available for its game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
- That's because one of the team's quarterbacks, Jeff Driskel, tested positive for coronavirus.
- Driskel interacted with the Broncos' three other QBs – starter Drew Lock, back-up Brett Rypien, and Blake Bortles – while not wearing a mask, ruling all the players out of Sunday's game.
- Reports suggest Kendall Hinton, a 23-year-old undrafted rookie wide receiver, will start under center Sunday. Hinton played quarterback in high school and for part of his college career.
Kendall Hinton, a 23-year-old wide receiver from the Denver Broncos practise squad is set to start at quarterback for the Colorado team on Sunday after all its other options were ruled out.
According to a number of outlets, Hinton will start the Broncos' game against the New Orleans Saints after third-choice quarterback Jeff Driskel tested positive for coronavirus.
The other three quarterbacks on the Broncos – starter Drew Lock, back-up Brett Rypien, and Blake Bortles – are all in isolation after being deemed to have had close contact with Driskel.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Lock, Rypien, and Bortles did not wear masks when in contact with Driskel, meaning they had to isolate, per NFL rules on COVID-19.
"With NFL/NFLPA protocols mandating a five-day quarantine period for high-risk close contacts, we were informed by the league that Lock, Rypien and Bortles will be ineligible to participate in Sunday's game against New Orleans," the Broncos said in a statement.
Hinton, who graduated from Wake Forest University, may have never played quarterback (or any other position for that matter) in the NFL before, but he does have experience under center, having played there throughout high school and for part of his college career.
As a freshman in 2015, Hinton started two games at quarterback for Wake Forest, before losing his starting spot. After three years as a backup, he moved to wide receiver in 2019, according to NBC Sports. He registered for the NFL Draft in 2020, but went undrafted.
He was then picked up by the Broncos and put on the team's practise squad.
The Broncos seemed to see the lighter side of the team's predicament, jokily tweeting to ask the Denver Nuggets if Nikola Jokić, the NBA side's seven-foot-tall star center, was free to play Sunday.
Denver kicks off against New Orleans at 4.05pm ET. The Broncos are third in the AFC West at 4-6, while the Saints are 8-2 and lead the NFC South.
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