Report: Broncos QBs caught trying to fool NFL's COVID protocols in 2020
The four Denver Broncos quarterbacks who were ruled ineligible for a game last season due to COVID-19 protocols tried to outsmart the NFL's contact-tracing devices, the Los Angeles Times' Sam Farmer reports.
The league directed the Broncos to sideline Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, and Blake Bortles for their Nov. 29, 2020, game against the New Orleans Saints after they were deemed close contacts to Jeff Driskel, who had tested positive for COVID-19. With all four signal-callers out, Denver was forced to start practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hilton.
According to Farmer's report, the NFL declined to postpone the contest after surveillance footage showed the quarterbacks placing their contact-tracing devices in the four corners of their meeting room while watching film:
John Elway, Denver's 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 Denver's 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.
The Broncos went on to lose 31-3 to the Saints.