Taylor Heinicke’s journey in less than two years is a heckuva story. And it ties back to an undrafted wide receiver for the Denver Broncos.
Commanders fans, do you recall Kendall Hinton?
Hinton is a good percentage of the reason why you have Taylor Heinicke today in 2022.
On Nov. 22, 2020, the Broncos defeated the Miami Dolphins 20-13, raising their record to 4-6. But that was the last good news for the Broncos that week.
Suddenly, Jeff Driskel tested positive for COVID-19, and Drew Lock and Brett Rypien were also declared ineligible, having been with Driskel without wearing masks.
The Broncos were unprepared for such a disaster of suddenly losing, not one but all three of their quarterbacks on the roster. But the (NFL) show must go on. So taking snaps that day was Kendall Hinton.
Hinton was not an NFL quarterback, and he certainly didn’t have enough time to prep, to make much of a difference in his performance. He was only age 23 at the time and was an undrafted wide receiver from Wake Forest.
Yet there he was being forced to play quarterback in an NFL regular season game having no previous NFL experience at quarterback. The Broncos attempted to run the ball as much as they could gaining 100 yards on their 33 rushes.
Hinton attempted nine passes, completing one for 13 yards. He was sacked once and intercepted twice for an NFL passer rating of 0.0. It was a disaster; the Broncos of course lost badly to the Saints 31-3.
With the Minnesota Vikings staff, Scott Turner got to work some with Taylor Heinicke an undrafted quarterback out of Old Dominion. Heinicke had seen some action in the preseason, never appearing in a regular season game over two seasons (2015-16).
The Patriots signed and released Heinicke in 2017, as did the Texans, although he did attempt one pass for the Texans in 2017.
Turner and Ron Rivera signed Heinicke for the Carolina Panthers, and he started one game in 2018.
In December 2020, Turner called Heinicke, and Washington signed Heinicke to be its quarantine quarterback. He would study the offense, work out and pretty much be isolated initially.
Suddenly, Alex Smith’s leg was injured again, and Dwayne Haskins was not taking responsibility. Heinicke was brought up to the practice squad, then the roster appeared against the Panthers on Dec. 27, and got the start against the Bucs in the playoff game.
In 2022, Washington has won four of five games Heinicke has started, and he was named the team’s starter (not Carson Wentz) moving forward.
As Rivera said Monday, “It’s a heck of a story.”
