Broncos left with no quarterback

Team must activate practice squad wide receiver because of lax protocols.

Phot of Broncos quarterbacks via USA today

Phot of Broncos quarterbacks via USA today

This year has been the strangest year arguably ever for sports. We have seen bubbles and even mass amount of injuries. One of the weirdest things to happen might have occurred two Sundays ago. The Denver Broncos went into their Sunday game against the Saints with no quarterback. Yes, you read that correctly. The Broncos were left with no quarterback due to their players not following Covid-19 guidelines.

The Broncos quarterbacks that include Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, Blake Bortles, and Jeff Driskel were all ruled out for week 12 of the season. The NFL caught them all not wearing masks while in their meeting room. Jeff Driskel was the first to test positive on the Thursday leading up to the game via sportingnews.com. They also stated that although all the other quarterbacks tested negative that they were deemed high risk close contacts and were ruled out Saturday evening. The NFL gave the Broncos the option to forfeit, but they decided to still play the game. They were scrambling around so much that they sent a request to the NFL to let them activate an assistant coach to play. The NFL denied this notion via ESPN.

Photo of Kendall Hinton in his game vs the Saints via Odessa American

The Broncos eventually activated Kendall Hinton from the practice squad. Hinton is a wide receiver on the team practice squad but played quarterback in college. He had no reps before the game and was working a real job less than a week before.

A gif of Drew Lock via giphy. Press to activate.

Hinton got high praise from people around the league despite a 31-3 loss against the New Orleans Saints. Hinton completed two of eight passes for two yards and one interception. Even with the poor performance, people around the league gave him praise for starting a game as a quarterback with no preparation at all.

I personally believe the game should have been cancelled and would have if it involved teams like the Chiefs or Ravens. There is no sense in letting players go out on that field and get injured, especially if a one team does not even have a quarterback.

If you know a team is going to win no matter what then why play especially when it is not a meaningful game. The Saints are currently a one seed in the NFC while the Broncos are a meager 4-8.  I also think it was a show of poor leadership by Drew Lock. He is supposed to be the franchise quarterback yet he just cost his team a game because he could not follow the protocols.

This certainly has been the oddest thing that I have witnessed in the NFL and I feel like it is only the beginning of what is to happen this season.