NFL Denied Broncos' Request to Activate a Coach to Play QB vs. Saints, per Report
The NFL has remained adamant that the Denver Broncos vs. New Orleans Saints Week 12 game will go on as scheduled. Even though the NFL ruled Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, and Blake Bortles ineligible to play due to being branded 'high risk' after exposure to COVID-19-infected fellow quarterback Jeff Driskel, the league office is forcing Denver to either play or forfeit the game.
John Elway doesn't forfeit anything. And neither does Vic Fangio for that matter.
The Broncos are expected to start practice-squad wideout Kendall Hinton at quarterback but it wasn't the team's first choice. According to multiple sources, including 9NEWS' Mike Klis, after the NFL denied Elway's request to reschedule this game for Tuesday, the Broncos asked if offensive coaching assistants Rob Calabrese and Justin Rascati could be signed to the roster to play.
The NFL shot that down, too.
"Per source, Broncos inquired with NFL about possibly signing two assistant coaches who played QBs in college - Justin Rascati, Rob Calabrese. League said it would not allow," Klis tweeted Saturday evening.
Broncos Can't Sign a QB Off the Street
Many fans are wondering why the Broncos are resorting to playing a practice-squad wideout at quarterback and even bothering to ask the NFL to allow coaches to suit up. The reason? Time.
Remember, the NFL dropped this bomb on the Broncos' heads Saturday afternoon. Even if Denver signed a quarterback off the street that next second, he couldn't be cleared to even enter the building until at least six days from now because he'd have to pass through the intensive and exhaustive COVID-19 testing protocol.
Meanwhile, the game is Sunday afternoon. The NFL is forcing the Broncos into desperate waters in order to make an example of them. That's the only explanation here.
A report broke Saturday from The Athletic's Lindsay Jones claiming that the Broncos' trio of QBs weren't "forthcoming" during contact tracing interviews and apparently didn't wear their masks or tracking devices consistently when in the presence of Driskel. For that, the NFL is going to put both the Broncos and Saints at risk in this game.
For what it's worth, through the team's public conduit Klis, the Broncos are telling a different story of the QBs' behavior and contact with Driskel in the fieldhouse. The team says although the QBs' social distancing "wasn't perfect", Lock, Rypien, and Bortles "were masked" when in the same room as Driskel.
Rypien's agent Kyle McCarthy said it best on Twitter:
"What are we doing here, NFL? You have guys with 7-plus consecutive negative tests since Thursday and hold them out of a game because there may have been some close contact with teammates?
"Complete joke and a CYA move by the league. The most concerning part is that the players’ health is more in danger by competing against a full team of professional athletes pinning their ears back and teeing off on an ill-equipped team."
The Broncos felt they'd have a better chance to compete against the top-ranked Saints with a quality control coach who hasn't played football in nearly a decade over a practice-squad receiver who couldn't cut it at Wake Forest as a quarterback. These are the type of surreal decisions the NFL is forcing one of its most storied and winningest franchises into making.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
