Drew Lock, other Broncos QBs tried to skirt COVID-19 protocol last season – Broncos Wire

After Jeff Driskel tested positive for COVID-19 leading up to Week 12 last season, all three of the Denver Broncos other quarterbacks were also ruled ineligible to play against the New Orleans Saints because the NFL said they were close contacts.

With all four quarterbacks deemed ineligible to play, the Broncos were forced to call up practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton as an emergency quarterback. At the time, it seemed like a harsh decision from the NFL, especially when other games had been moved because of COVID outbreaks.

With new details now known, the NFLs decision makes more sense.

In a recent interview with Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell revealed that Lock and Denvers three other QBs tried to skirt COVID protocol and manipulate the tracers.

Heres part of Farmers story with the details:

John Elway, Denvers president of football operations, made several frustrated pleas to Goodell to postpone the Sunday game until Tuesday, when the quarterbacks would be available. The league denied those requests because surveillance video from Denvers facility showed the quarterbacks had tried to fool the system. They had removed their contact-tracing devices and put them in the four corners of the meeting room, then they sat together to watch film. That close contact automatically made them ineligible to play.

Heres part of what Lock said in a statement after he was ruled out for the game last fall:

In a controlled and socially distanced area, we let our masking slip for a limited amount of time. An honest mistake, but one I will own.

Given the context we now know, thats an interesting comment from Lock. Driskel and Blake Bortles are no longer with the team. Lock is back as the teams No. 2 and Brett Rypien is back on the practice squad. Teddy Bridgewater will start for Denver this fall.

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Drew Lock, other Broncos QBs tried to skirt COVID-19 protocol last season - Broncos Wire