What Chiefs are doing to protect their QBs from COVID-19 following Broncos’ issues
The Broncos’ quarterback situation — or lack thereof — was one of many headlines to capture attention last week in the NFL.
With the team’s entire signal-caller room out of action because of a COVID-19 positive result and the NFL’s high-risk protocols, the Broncos were forced to use practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton as an emergency quarterback against the New Orleans Saints. The fallback plan didn’t work, as the Saints trounced the Broncos in a 31-3 win.
Lesson learned, as Broncos coach Vic Fangio said Wednesday he would now keep backup Blake Bortles away from practice in a move designed to limit Bortles’ exposure.
It’s not a full-blown quarterback quarantine, such as what the Eagles are doing with Josh McCown, but a change to what the Broncos have done through the first 12 weeks of the regular season.
Don’t expect a similar alteration in Kansas City, however, as coach Andy Reid said Wednesday afternoon that he will not separate his quarterbacks from the training facility.
“They’ve got a good-sized room that they can be in where they can have that separation and plus some,” Reid said. “Those guys are flawless when wearing their masks. I mean, they keep those things on relentlessly, so that becomes important also.”
Reid’s stance of potentially quarantining a quarterback hasn’t changed since the late summer and he’s addressed the situation on two separate occasions. The first came during training camp and the other during the early part of the regular season.
As for Reid’s second point, quarterback Patrick Mahomes echoed his head coach’s stance on how he, Chad Henne and Matt Moore remain vigilant on wearing masks.
“I think we do a great job,” Mahomes said Wednesday.
Mahomes described their current setup for position group meetings as “a much bigger room” when compared to past seasons before COVID-19 protocols were put in place to accommodate social distancing.
“We have like five spots and that works whenever it’s just the QBs and Coach (Mike) Kafka,” Mahomes said. “But, obviously, when Coach (Eric) Bieniemy or Coach Reid come in there, we have to send people out.”
If a player or players have to leave the room to accommodate either Beiniemy or Reid, Mahomes says they are able to continue to participate in the meeting virtually.
“They’ll still be a virtual part of the experience, but it won’t be where it’s too congested in the room,” Mahomes said. “Even with that, we still wear our masks and do all that type of different stuff. It’s something you have to stay on top of.”
Meanwhile, the Broncos ran into issues when Bortles, Drew Lock and Brett Rypien didn’t consistently wear masks in their quarterback meeting room and were deemed high-risk after Jeff Driskel tested positive, according to multiple reports.
Lock, who prepped at Lee’s Summit High School and played in college at Missouri, later issued an apology and took responsibility for what he categorized as an “honest mistake.”
Nevertheless, the entire Broncos quarterback room placed their team in an awkward situation with Hinton under center against the Saints.
So, how would the Chiefs respond if they ever found themselves in a position such as what the Broncos endured in Week 12?
Reid declined to go into specifics, but pointed out the Chiefs enter every week working in an emergency quarterback just in case he’s ever needed.
“I’m not going to put that out there, but we have a couple of guys we work every week,” Reid said.
The Chiefs are preparing this week to host the Broncos in Week 13 on Sunday Night Football at Arrowhead Stadium.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 3:41 PM.
