Jake Fromm the ultimate team player in quarantine role with Bills

The former Georgia Bulldogs star has taken on the role of being the Buffalo Bills’ quarantine quarterback long before the Denver Broncos’ debacle.

Playing in the middle of a global pandemic without a bubble was always going to be difficult for the NFL and all 32 of its teams. Perhaps no one learned that lesson more than the Denver Broncos. This past week, the entire quarterback depth chart was ruled out for their game against the New Orleans Saints, forcing head coach Vic Fangio to turn to practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton to play the position. Now, teams have learned the importance of keeping a quarterback isolated, just in case a Broncos situation occurs. As it turns out, the Buffalo Bills were ahead of the curve.

Since the start of the 2020 season, the Bills isolated rookie quarterback and former Georgia Bulldog Jake Fromm to have him ready in case Josh Allen, Matt Barkley and Davis Webb were all to be placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list at once.

Bills have been ahead of the curve

“Sometimes you make decisions in life that you’re not sure if they’re the right decisions,” head coach Sean McDermott said, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN,  “and with Brandon and I making this decision, it wasn’t easy because not only [did we] separate a player from the team but also a rookie. And it’s hard enough to acclimate oneself and transition from college to the NFL game, and now to kind of be apart has made it all that much harder [for Fromm].

“We recognized that, and Jake and our staff have just done a phenomenal job of executing that, and that’s honestly why we’ve done it, and [the Denver situation] could happen to anyone. [It] can happen to any position, for that matter, so it’s another great learning lesson for us.”

So, Fromm technically isn’t a player in total quarantine. Rather, he’s at the facility, but separated from his fellow quarterbacks and the entire 53-man roster. In fact, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen says that Fromm takes part in team meetings, but he only steps on the practice field once the regular roster leaves.

This past week, Broncos quarterback Jeff Driskel tested positive for COVID-19 and fellow signal callers Drew Lock, Brett Rypien and Blake Bortles were listed as high-risk close contacts. As it turns out, all the quarterbacks were hanging out in a meeting room, without masks on, for an extended period of time. After Driskell yielded a positive test, the entire positional depth chart was ruled ineligible for the Saints game.

This is why having a quarterback in isolation was a necessary move from the start. When asked about that earlier this season, Fangio said it wasn’t necessary. In fact, Fangio actually doubled down on that very belief following the Week 12 contest, even after calling out his quarterbacks for their negligence of the league-mandated COVID-19 protocols.

The Bills had a contingency plan in case there was a massive outbreak in the quarterback meeting room. It was a tough call for McDermott, but Fromm showed he was the ultimate team player by taking on the role.