Denver Broncos reopen facility, set to practice Saturday
After wide receiver/returner Diontae Spencer received a positive test result for COVID-19 Friday morning, Broncos coach Vic Fangio elected to cancel that day’s practice and conduct the team’s activities virtually to keep the players out of the team’s facility.
Quarterback Jeff Driskel had received a positive test result Thursday morning, but the NFL, after conducting contact tracing, had cleared the Broncos to practice Thursday as the team held its usual on-field walk-through and practice. The league also had cleared the Broncos to practice Friday, but Fangio, as he has on other occasions this season, elected to keep the players out of the team’s complex and off the practice field for a day.
“When we had back-to-back … we could have practiced [Friday], it was our choice, my choice, to not practice [Friday],” Fangio said Saturday morning. “I just felt having two consecutive days with a positive test each day, that I just felt like we needed to not practice.”
Both Driskel and Spencer have been moved to the reserve/COVID-19 list. Fangio also said Saturday that he had already scheduled all of the team’s meetings virtually for Monday and Tuesday before the NFL sent a memo to teams Friday saying facilities were to be closed Monday and Tuesday given players, coaches and other team personnel may have out-of-state visitors during the Thanksgiving weekend.
The Broncos were set to practice early Saturday afternoon with Sunday’s game against the Saints set to kick off at 4:05 p.m. ET.
“It’s improvise and adjust, we talked about it the first day of training camp,” Fangio said. “We knew it was going to a season when that was going to be called upon several times probably, that’s held true and I think our players have done a great job … and I believe they’ll continue to do that.”
Thursday was the third time the Broncos have canceled practices and other on-site activities at their facility this season. The first was after guard Graham Glasgow tested positive in late October, and then earlier this month after defensive end Shelby Harris tested positive.
Glasgow has returned to the team; Harris recently returned to work with the team’s strength and conditioning staff, but has not yet returned to practice.
Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell has missed the past four games with an extended bout with the virus that linebacker Alexander Johnson said required Donatell to be hospitalized. Running backs coach Curtis Modkins and offensive line coach Mike Munchak also have missed time this season because of the virus.