Taylor Heinicke is a quarterback for the Washington Commanders. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Heinecke set passing records at Collins Hill High School, putting up school records and, at the time, the second-most passing yards and third-most touchdowns in Georiga state history. Despite the prolific high school career, Heinicke’s only college scholarship offer came from Old Dominion University.
At Old Dominion, Taylor Heinicke put up video game college stats which, unfortunately, were probably witnessed by few beyond immediate family members. His exploits included a 79-attempt, 730-yard game against New Hampshire, immediately followed by a 486-yard, seven-score performance. Despite finishing his college career with 14,959 passing yards & 132 scores, posting an 81st-percentile Breakout Age, and 87th-percentile SPARQ-X score, Heinicke was overlooked once again come 2015 NFL Draft time.
Signing as a UDFA with Minnesota, Heinicke earned the third-stringer role behind starter Teddy Bridgewater. Seeing no playing time in 2015, he was injured in the offseason and placed on the reserve/NFI list before 2016. Activated in late 2016, he again saw no playing time. In early 2017, Minnesota waived him. New England signed Heinicke but released him, too. In November, he joined the Texans practice squad. He would see his first NFL action, completing his only pass attempt before leaving with a concussion. Houston waived him, too. The Panthers were next, giving Heinicke a shot in 2018. He saw action in six games that year, starting one, before being injured and released in 2019's final roster cuts.
Next up, the 2020 Washington Football Team. Heinicke appeared in one regular season game, a Week 16 loss. When starter Alex Smith was declared unavailable for their playoff game against eventual Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay, Ron Rivera decided he’d rather give Heinicke his second career start than turn again to Dwayne Haskins. The Football Team lost, but Heincke earned league-wide respect for that performance, throwing for 306 yards and rushing for 46 more. He also earned a two-year contract to stay in Washington.
When Ryan Fitzpatrick, Washington’s expected 2021 starter, was lost for the year in Week 1, Heinicke saw his first extended action, including his first ever consecutive NFL starts as a 28-year-old. Starting 15 games, he posted 3,419 yards and led the FT’s to a 7-7 record. A .500 record perfectly described his season - serviceable if not outstanding in any particular area. His strong completion percentage - both in the red zone & under pressure – were offset by QB2-QB3-level metrics in deep ball completion percentage, air yards per attempt and accuracy ranking, combining to give him the season’s No. 23 QBR. Heinicke was not easily fazed, earning the league’s 3rd-best completion rate under pressure. He proved usable in fantasy, finish with the No. 20 fantasy ranking, posting nine QB2 or better performances.
