ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos sent the two quarterbacks on their active roster, Drew Lock and Brett Rypien, as well as practice squad quarterback Blake Bortles home from Saturday’s practice over concerns in COVID-19 contact tracing, sources told ESPN.
The three quarterbacks, who were on the field during an open viewing period at the start of practice, were pulled from the workout before it was finished, sources told ESPN. All three have taken additional POC tests since Thursday and all three have come back negative so far.
The Broncos are scheduled to face the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High. The team would have no available quarterbacks if all three players have to either isolate per the league’s protocols or test positive for coronavirus.
The concerns have arisen since the Broncos moved quarterback Jeff Driskel to the COVID-19/reserve list Thursday morning after a positive test result.
Broncos coach Vic Fangio on Thursday said he didn’t have concerns about the other quarterbacks after Driskel’s positive test because “the other quarterbacks were only in there minimal amounts, like two minutes and some seconds — four minutes. That’s over a three- or four-day period.”
On Saturday, Fangio said the quarterbacks are more than six feet apart from each other during meetings and that “all our meetings are set up to where everybody’s spread out.”
Fangio said the NFL had cleared the Broncos to practice both Thursday and Friday after positive tests by Driskel and wide receiver Diontae Spencer. Fangio, however, elected to cancel Friday’s practice and all other on-site activities.
The Broncos had been given clearance by the NFL to practice Saturday.