We now know who the Vikings’ emergency quarterback is

In case you hadn’t been following the story, this past week the Denver Broncos found themselves in a situation where they were unable to field a quarterback due to the COVID-19 situation. Backup quarterback Jeff Driskel tested positive for COVID-19, and the other three quarterbacks on the team (Drew Lock, Blake Bortles, and Brett Rypien) were forced to quarantine because they were classed as “close contacts,” leaving the Broncos without a signal caller for their contest on Sunday against New Orleans.

The Broncos wound up using practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton at quarterback, and it went. . .about as well as you’d expect. The Broncos lost, 31-3.

With the expanded practice squads, your Minnesota Vikings have four quarterbacks on the roster. Veterans Kirk Cousins and Sean Mannion are on the main roster, while second-year player Jake Browning and rookie Nate Stanley are both on the practice squad. When asked about doing so in light of the situation with the Broncos, Vikings’ head coach Mike Zimmer said that he would not consider quarantining a quarterback for the rest of the season to ensure that the team had one for their final five regular season games.

“We talked about it earlier in the year,” Zimmer said. “Honestly, if a guy isn’t practicing, he’s probably not going to play very good, anyway. We’ll just keep being really careful with our protocols and being smart with the masks and all of that.”

We did, however, find out who would step in for the Vikings in a similar situation, as Zimmer clarified that wide receiver Adam Thielen would ordinarily be the emergency quarterback. I say “ordinarily” because, as we know, Thielen wasn’t available on Sunday, also because of COVID. So, the baton would have been passed to. . .tight end Kyle Rudolph.

To which Zimmer said, “Hopefully we don’t lose four quarterbacks.”

Yeah. . .hopefully they don’t.