The Broncos were desperate enough for a quarterback that they asked the NFL to allow assistant coaches to play today against the Saints. But the league said no.
Mike Klis of 9 News in Denver reports that the Broncos asked if they could have one of their offensive quality control coaches, Justin Rascati or Rob Calabrese, play quarterback today. But the league would not allow it.
This has happened before. In 2009, the Eagles were short on quarterbacks in training camp and asked if they could have one of their coaching interns, Matt Nagy, play quarterback in a preseason game. Nagy, now the Bears’ head coach, actually practiced with the Eagles for one day before the NFL said that moving him from the coaching staff to the roster would constitute a violation of the league’s limits on roster sizes.
Rascati quarterbacked James Madison to the FCS national championship in 2004. Calabrese was a part-time quarterback at UCF from 2008 to 2012 and threw for 1,276 yards in his college career.
With those options out, the Broncos are going with practice squad receiver Kendall Hinton at quarterback today.