Raiders learned from Broncos’ quarterback COVID disaster

The NFL has long been a copycat league and, in this strange season, there is no difference.

But learning from other teams in 2020 is much bigger than stealing schemes and blitz packages. It’s literally about survival this year.

When the Denver Broncos had to quarantine their entire quarterback group on Saturday and were forced use practice squad receiver, Kendall Hinton at QB in what ended up being a blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints, other teams took notice.

There has been talk around the NFL all season that some teams may quarantine a backup quarterback in case what exactly happened in Denver would occur. Now, that is being considered throughout the league.

Raiders coach Jon Gruden said Monday that he and general manager Mike Mayock discussed how to move forward if their quarterback room, which consists of starter Derek Carr, backup Nathan Peterman and third-stringer Marcus Mariota, had a similar issue.

The Raiders had to practice without must of their starting offensive line and without several defensive starters at different points of this season, so Gruden knows how important if an issue this is around the NFL.

“To have your men not be able to participate at that position – all of them – that’s a tough pill to swallow,” Gruden said.

“We’re doing a great job, I think, of enforcing the protocols that are in place. Obviously with what happened yesterday, [general manager] Mike Mayock and I are discussing the possibility of rearranging how we meet as a quarterback group. It’s hard right now because this is the ultimate team game and you do like to have some face-to-face conversations with your players and coaches, but right now we have to rethink things given what happened yesterday and maybe we should think outside the box.”

It will be interesting to see what changes the Raiders may make moving forward.