Taylor Heinicke briefly lit the NFL world on fire with his electric performance in a wild card playoff loss to the Bucs, and Washington isn’t about to let him walk out the door. Washington has given Heinicke a two-year extension worth $8.75MM to keep him around, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Rapoport adds that there are “also incentives depending on how many games he starts.” Washington’s quarterback situation is very unsettled, so it makes sense why they’d want to at least have Heinicke as a fallback option. Alex Smith is sounding like he wants to keep playing and is under contract for 2021, although the team can get out of it and they probably don’t want to pay him his hefty salary.
Heinicke has one of the most remarkable stories we’ve seen in some time, as just a couple of months ago he was out of the league and taking classes at Old Dominion, where he starred in college. He hadn’t been with an NFL team since training camp of 2019, when Washington signed him to their practice squad on December 8th.
An injury to Smith put him on the active roster, and then Dwayne Haskins was so ineffective he was benched for Heinicke in Week 16. He played surprisingly well, but Smith returned for Week 17. Washington got the win to get them in the playoffs, but Smith’s calf still wasn’t right, leading to Heinicke getting the postseason start.
He very nearly pulled off a massive upset, keeping them close against eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay the entire way. He had previously only made one start, a spot start in 2018 with the Panthers in place of an injured Cam Newton. His familiarity with Ron Rivera and OC Scott Turner from those Panthers days ended up paying off for him, and that gutsy performance against the Bucs flipped him from working a day job to making millions as an NFL quarterback.
Love to see good play be rewarded.
was he a free agent to be? lots of these XFL guys signed to 1 year deals but not showing up on sportac’s FA tracker.
He was going to be a RFA
Good call for the Redskins to extend him.
speaking of the old name, any word on what the new one will be?
Haven’t heard. Probably having a hard time finding a name that doesn’t offend anybody.
It’s really not that difficult to find a team nickname/mascot that isn’t a racial slur.
Serious question. When did you start thinking that it was a racial slur? Lemme guess, as soon as the media says it was. If you say otherwise, then you’re a damn liar.
How did you not think a name based off of a stereotype had zero negative connotations?
That sounds more like a statement than a question lmao. Keep on enjoying your lung cancer tho!
Waiting for an answer. WHEN did you decide it was a racial slur? It never crossed your mind until the media brainwashed you into thinking it was. You know that is the truth.
Preach it Arthur Morgan
You sound brainwashed by the right wing media lmao
Born and raised in DC and new it was a slur pretty much from the get-go. I was certainly always uncomfortable when I would go to games and see white dudes dressed like imaginary chiefs. Always felt off to me.
Re your statements about brainwashing: learning things, from the media or elsewhere, is not the same as brainwashing. There are plenty of facts a person can be unaware of before being told about them, and that especially applies to information about other cultures. I read an article the other day about artistic practices in New Zealand and it was full of stuff I didn’t know. I don’t think I was brainwashed by it though…
You pretty much nailed it. The cancel culture finally got to them and the Indians are next. Probably followed by the Braves….the Buccaneers…etc.
Why the Buccaneers? Are there still pirates around wearing their knickers and gold hoop earrings that would be offended?
Chiefs !!
Or does it refer to the boss fireman at a fire station?
It’s too bad the cancel culture didnt cancel themselves
Your racism is not cancel culture. Back to QAnon for you.
Buccaneers, you’re an idiot. Who finds that name offensive? Redskins who are my team was bound to change their name. Along with all other Native American based team names. It’s a change in times but pirates aren’t offensive. Next thing you’ll say is that Cheeseheads is wrong
Just change the mascot to a potato and keep the original name
I’m back to see if anyone answered my question whether they thought the Redskins name was racist before the media told them it was……..Anyone? No? Carry on then.
Love to see it. Good for him
1 start equals $8.75m. Good for him!
There’s not a lot to speak of in terms of ODU football, but guys like Zach Pascal and now our college hero Heinicke sure do pump some air in the chest. Really happy to see that performance rewarded. Kid has perfect backup skills.
My guess is they release Smith, try to land a veteran to start and this guy will serve as their back up, if they aren’t unsuccessful they probably draft a QB and let them battle for the starter role. Hard to say he should start after one performance but he definitely should be given a shot at it. Have seen guys light it up, get a good contract the next season and fail miserably though. Matt Flynn always comes to mind. Hope to see him succeed though, hopefully he gets a shot and kills it.
so what happens to Kyle Allen now? I’m glad Heinicke gets a shot at least at a backup job, but it seems like they might have a roster crunch. Smith is most likely gone, but then do they sign another vet or draft a QB? Seems kind of unlikely to me that they go into the season with Heinicke and Allen as their top options unless they are taking a (hopeful) future franchise qb early in the draft to develop next year.
UDFA with the Vikings 2015.
May have been a different QB story in Minny if not for an extended time on NFI & IR due to an off-field injury which subsequently lead to his release via injury settlement.
Good to see that Washington’s front office stupidity hasn’t gone anywhere, as that’s too much money for a guy that may never make another start.
Just to clear things up, that’s two years for the 8 mil, and it increases with the number of starts. And it’s a long stretch from a point of pride to a racial slur. Just silly people… like most of the cancel culture
There is a 2nd impeachment hearing currently going on for a psychopath that utilized radicalizing Americans as a way to sack our Capitol and our nation’s capital’s team hands out a two year deal to a QAnon lunatic????
link to news.yahoo.com