Denver Broncos began training the junior team on a large scale, Kendall Hinton, in Quarterback on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, but the team wanted the starting QB to be Rob Calabrese, their QC offensive coach for the past two years, sources told ESPN on Sunday. Sunday. .

Sources told ESPN that Denver felt Calabrese had the strongest command in his attack and could operate the system better than anyone else. The league rejected those requests that were made throughout Saturday, saying the Bronco had been unable to activate a coach for their active roster. Sources said the league does not want coaching staff to be storage areas for potential players.

While the team and some of its players turned to social media to highlight their midfield position in Sunday’s match, Hinton, who had been the midfielder at Wake Forest for three seasons, was promoted from the coaching squad as a COVID-19 substitute.

As the midfielder for Wake Forest, Hinton completed 133 of 253 passes for 1504 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also accelerated to 1059 yards with 12 drops on 188 wagons.

Bronco has also repeatedly requested the NFL to push Sunday’s match through Tuesday to allow some midfielders to exit the Reserve / COVID-19 list, sources told ESPN.

Commissioner Roger Goodell denied these requests, much to the dismay of Bronco, who felt the league was unreasonable, sources reported to ESPN.

The team announced Saturday night that the Bronco’s three eligible midfielders – Drew Locke, Brett Ripan and Blake Bortles – were all deemed high-risk COVID-19 contacts and none of the three could wear the uniforms for Sunday’s match. .

The Denver statement did not say who the players were in contact with, but sources told ESPN that midfielder Jeff Driskill was. Driskel tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and was transferred to the Team Reserve / COVID-19 List later that day.

Sources told ESPN that Luke, Ribben and Bortles, who was on the coaching team, were taken off the field early in Saturday’s training and asked to be isolated at home after concerns about contact tracing arose. It was discovered that the three did not wear masks at some point during contact with Driskel, team sources told ESPN, but it was unclear if this happened during the training or meeting.

Sources told ESPN that the Broncos team is also preparing to fine and withdraw a draft team selection as the team is under investigation by the league for not adhering to COVID-19 security protocols.

If punished, the Broncos will be considered a repeat offender as coach Vic Fangio was fined $ 100,000 earlier this season for not wearing his mask.

ESPN’s Geoff Legwold contributed to this report.