The Denver Broncos were forced to turn to Kendall Hinton, a practice squad wide receiver, as their quarterback against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday due to COVID-19 protocols that forced their entire group of QBs to sit out.
It was a situation that, as my colleague Andy Nesbitt noted, should lead to Hinton getting all the praise in the world (along with a full-time job at wide receiver) for bailing out the Broncos when they needed it.
From a fantasy football perspective, Hinton actually had a Taysom Hill-like loophole in certain leagues. He was listed as a wide receiver only in Yahoo leagues, which meant Hinton had the chance to put up quarterback points at a non-QB position, just like Hill did at tight end for one week in ESPN leagues before he was stripped of TE eligibility.
When all the news dropped on Saturday about Hinton probably getting the start under center, fantasy owners — including yours truly — flocked to the waiver wire and grabbed him, hoping for Hinton to produce enough to be worth exploiting the loophole of position eligibility.
As you know by now, it didn’t go so well. He finished with 13 yards passing, two interceptions and seven yards rushing, for a cool -2.78 points in standard scoring.
Those who started him (I didn’t end up doing it but in a league where I considered swapping him for Tyler Boyd (15 yards on three catches) it wouldn’t have been that big of a difference!) weren’t happy it all backfired:
I'm starting @Kendall_Hinton2 in 3 leagues this week, just cause I want to have some fun watching him. Or not. pic.twitter.com/wns6ygN7uI
— Michael Fabiano (@Michael_Fabiano) November 29, 2020
I'm getting Hinton jersey if he score 20+ points pic.twitter.com/8P5821FxO7
— Fantasy Football (@FantasyFB_23) November 29, 2020
I started Kendall Hinton this week, he had -0.78 fantasy points.
I will not be taking questions at this time.— Tom Vecchio (@DFS_Tom) November 30, 2020
Kendall Hinton got -4 points in fantasy thought I found a glitch in the matrix 😪 I can’t catch a break in fantasy football
— Papi Chulo ⚖️ (@Dough_Boy_Hick) November 30, 2020
Needless to say I started Hinton as a WR in fantasy. https://t.co/naLdbx3Hpe
— Josh Wilkes (@JoshuaMWilkes) November 30, 2020
Look, sometimes fantasy football is supposed to be fun, and this was a case where you could roll the dice and have a little fun with a player who could end up surprising us with a good day despite having not a lot of time to prepare to play quarterback. Yes, losing a game in fantasy with the playoffs looming isn’t fun … but maybe think about how the anticipation was thrilling instead.
