Fangio Reveals Broncos Will Isolate QB Blake Bortles for Emergency
On the doorstep of the 2020 regular season, Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio was asked multiple times whether he'd consider 'quarantining' a backup quarterback in order to have an emergency option to take the field in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak. Each time, Fangio dismissed the idea out of hand, no doubt confident in the Broncos' painstaking measures as a club to prevent the virus from entering the building.
What Fangio perhaps didn't take into consideration was human error and weakness. Last week, the Broncos were forced by the NFL to play the New Orleans Saints without a true quarterback after Jeff Driskel tested positive for the virus and Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, and Blake Bortles were deemed 'high-risk' exposures by the league and ruled ineligible to play.
The Broncos, embarrassingly, had no choice but to forfeit or play an undrafted rookie wide receiver at quarterback vs. one of the top-ranked defenses in the NFL. Kendall Hinton, for all the heart and grit he showed, proved on the field that he is not an NFL-caliber quarterback.
Now wiser, ostensibly, Coach Fangio revealed on Wednesday that the Broncos have opted to take precautions with the quarterback position and isolate one player from the body of the roster.
"Blake’s [Bortles] not going to come into the building today from home after the virtual meetings," Fangio said.
Bortles will not be barred from entering the building and will have to show up daily to do his COVID-19 testing, but the Broncos will execute a 'quarantine' of sorts to ensure he's not exposed to an potential outbreak in the building that could, in theory, compromise the entire QB room like last week.
“No, he's coming over to get tested, coming over get something to eat," Fangio said. "We're just going to limit his exposure here.”
Lock, Rypien, and Bortles tested negative for the virus on Tuesday, which satisfied the NFL's 'high-risk' incubation period and allowed the QB trio to return to the building and practice. Bortles, however, will attend all virtual meetings and will practice on his own.
Understand, the Broncos would only turn to Bortles to play if faced with another 'sum of all fears' situation at QB. Every NFL team's worst nightmare heading into this season was an outbreak in the QB room.
Quarterback, as evidenced last Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High, is the most important position on the field. The Broncos are taking the proper measures to ensure that the team is never placed in a position again where the league front office 2,000 miles away can strong-arm the club into all but forfeiting a game due to the absence of a quarterback.
Bortles, a top-5 draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars back in 2014, was signed by the Broncos on September 24 in the wake of Lock's injury to his throwing shoulder. Bortles was released in October when Lock returned from injury and subsequently signed to the practice squad two days later where he has remained, outside of his three-day stint on the Reserve/COVID list.
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