Commanders Plan To Ride Hot Hand With Taylor Heinicke As Starter

According to Ian Rapoport, the Commanders plan to stick with QB Taylor Heinicke as the starting quarterback as long as he’s playing well and the team is winning. 

Or as one source termed it to Rapoport, Heinicke will be the starter until he’s not. 

Heinicke is set to start his fifth straight game in place of Week 1 starting QB Carson Wentz when Washington takes on the Texans this week. Wentz has still not been cleared to return from his finger injury. 

However, Heinicke’s performance and Washington’s 3-1 record while Wentz has been sidelined would have made it hard for HC Ron Rivera to send Heinicke back to the bench if Wentz was healthy, and that will likely be the case in the future unless Heinicke and the team regress. 

Heinicke, 29, wound up signing on with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion back in 2015. He managed to make the 53-man roster during his rookie season but wasn’t active for a single game.

The Vikings elected to waive Heinicke with an injury designation coming out of the preseason in 2017 before eventually cutting him loose with an injury settlement.

Heinicke had brief stints with the Patriots and Texans before being claimed by the Panthers. Carolina released him coming out of the preseason in 2019 and he signed on to Washington’s practice squad late in 2020. He signed a two-year, $8.75 million extension with Washington in 2021.

In 2022, Heinicke has started four games for Washington and completed 75-121 pass attempts (62 percent) for 840 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions. He has also rushed 17 times for 60 yards and one touchdown. 

We’ll have more on the Commanders quarterback situation as the news is available.