Seahawks’ new COVID-19 quarterback plan, just in case: isolate 3rd-stringer from everyone
The Seahawks are taking steps to ensure they don’t become the Broncos.
You know, the team that didn’t have any quarterbacks available for a game because of COVID-19.
Coach Pete Carroll on Wednesday revealed his latest measure to stay ahead of the coronavirus that is spiking on other teams across the league. The Seahawks have sent third quarterback Danny Etling away, sequestered from the rest of the team. Specifically, Etling is far away from starting quarterback Russell Wilson and number two Geno Smith.
That’s Seattle’s contingency plan to still have Etling available should Wilson and Smith become ineligible to play because of a COVID-19 positive test, or because of contract tracing from someone else testing positive and going into quarantine.
“We’ve been in the conversation for this for a long time,” Carroll said. “We actually kicked into a new gear just by the—I hate to say it, we had to wait to see something bad happen (with Denver). But we have stepped forward and in terms of taking care of Danny, so to make sure he is apart from the other QBs. So, if we had, heaven forbid, some kind of circumstance he would be considered not to be connected with those guys.
“He is separated from the QBs for now.”
Etling, the former Falcons and Patriots backup Seattle signed off waivers from New England in August, is participating in daily quarterback and team meetings remotely, via Zoom online calls. He’s working out, on his own away from the team facility in Renton.
“We’ll keep him available,” Carroll said. “So that is our guy.”
The Seahawks’ emergency, contingency guy.
That “something bad” that happened was last weekend with the Broncos. They had all four of their quarterbacks, including on the practice squad, become ineligible to play against New Orleans. Jeff Driskel tested positive for COVID-19. The other three quarterback they took their masks off around Driskel during a Broncos QB film session and were considered by the NFL to be “close contacts” of a positive-testing player.
The Broncos had to start an undrafted rookie practice-squad wide receiver, Kendall Hinton, who used to play some quarterback in college. He threw more interceptions than completed passes in Denver’s predictable, 31-3 loss to the Saints.
Carroll saw that and said, “Danny Etling, go away.”
The Broncos have done with the Seahawks have since Sunday: learned from the Broncos’ mistakes. Denver is (only) now putting backup quarterback Blake Bortles isolated away from the team facility and the other quarterbacks just in case, as Etling now is from the Seahawks.
It remains the ultimate knock-on-wood fact: Seattle is the only NFL team that has not had a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 since daily testing began in the league on July 28, reporting day for training camp.
Carroll has been proactive in establishing the Seahawks’ own protocols guarding against the coronavirus, often ahead of the league’s measures.
He’s cut down to nearly nothing the time in the locker room between morning walk-throughs and main afternoon practices. That’s to minimize the players’ time together in their locker room. The team meetings that had been in its indoor practice field are now minimize and mostly online via Zoom.
Carroll has told his players to not frequent restaurants and to eat food packaged to go by the team’s food-services staff. Carroll has also been encouraging his players to report to the team any visitors, including parents, before they arrive. The Seahawks then arrange, at their expense, to have those visitors get the same COVID-19 testing at their facilities that players, coaches and staff get each day before they visit their player.
Before they took this week’s measure with Etling, who would have been the Seahawks’ emergency, non-quarterback quarterback if all three of their QBs had been put on the reserve/COVID-19 list?
Carroll is too coy to answer that.
“Oh, we’ve got a couple guys who can do different things,” he said. “You’d be surprised at the versatility of some of our guys.”
Tight end Jacob Hollister was a quarterback at Mountain View High School in Bend, Oregon. Rookie running back DeeJay Dallas was a high school quarterback in Brunswick, Georgia.
“And we have some surprises, as well,” Carroll said. “But those are guys that would jump in for us, if we needed it.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 3:54 PM.
