Kendall Hinton: What we know about the Denver Broncos’ emergency quarterback

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When the Denver Broncos  play the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, the player they’ll likely have under center is a rookie wide receiver who has never played — let alone taken a snap at quarterback — in his NFL career. 

A Broncos official told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday night that Kendall Hinton is expected to be elevated from the practice squad and get the start. That’s because all quarterbacks on the Broncos roster — Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, Jeff Driskel and Blake Bortles — have been placed on the COVID-19/reserve list.

The official added that the Broncos are still sorting through their quarterback options, which include backup running back Royce Freeman. The person requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

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The Broncos signed Hinton as an undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest, but cut him just before the start of the regular season. Earlier this month, they re-signed him to provide depth at wide receiver, never suspecting he might end up helping them in a completely different way.

Hinton played quarterback for parts of four seasons at Wake before transitioning to a wideout his senior year. Over his career, he completed 53% of his passes for 1,504 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also ran thee ball 188 times for 881 yards (4.7 YPC) and 12 TDs.

In 2019 as a receiver, he caught 73 passes for 1,001 yards and four touchdowns for the Demon Deacons.

Kendall Hinton is listed as a wide receiver on the Broncos roster, but he could be starting at quarterback on Sunday.

 (Photo: Isaiah J. Downing, USA TODAY Sports)

The Denver coaching staff will have quite a task getting Hinton up to speed with zero reps in practice this week. Freeman has served as the team’s emergency quarterback during the season, but he has never played the position in the pros or in college.

Meanwhile, the Saints should be well aware of the challenges the Broncos face. Just last week, they gave Taysom Hill his first NFL start and he led them to a 24-9 victory against the Atlanta Falcons, passing for 233 yards and rushing for 51 and a pair of touchdowns. 

Of course, Hill — who will start again for New Orleans in place of the injured Drew Brees — has seen plenty of action at quarterback over his four NFL seasons. 

But a similar type of game plan could be in store for both teams: a bunch of short- to medium-range passes, mixed in with several designed quarterback runs. 

Contributing: Jarrett Bell

As we saw with Hill last week, different platforms have different requirements for position eligibility.

Among the major ones:

Outside of two-QB or Superflex formats, it’s extremely risky to pick up Hinton and start him at quarterback. There are simply too many other viable options.

However, slotting him in as a wide receiver or in a flex position has the potential to pay off significantly. Not only will his passing stats count, but perhaps more important, Hinton will likely have a number of rushing attempts (either by design or out of necessity) — which will give him multiple paths to scoring touchdowns. 

Hinton may not be the same kind of fantasy cheat code that the Saints’ Hill was last week, but in deep leagues, he is worth consideration as a starter at a position other than quarterback.

Follow Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner

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