Commanders' Coffee #9

[Canadian Hog]

Taylor Heinicke is 9-8 overall in the regular season as a starter with Washington. Having a winning record as a starter is something virtually no other QB under Dan Snyder has been able to accomplish. In addition, he has 4 fourth quarter comeback victories as a starter for Washington.

He is a guy that is very well-liked by his teammates, claws and fights for every inch, but obviously has limitations as well. It certainly feels as though there is a ceiling for overall team success with Taylor behind center.

Becoming a soon-to-be free agent, this week's question very simply asks if the Commanders would be smart to consider a second contract for Heinicke?

Discuss among yourselves.

 

[Knightingale]

At this point I'm on board with riding with Heineke while we groom Sam Howell or QBX that we pick up in the draft. I think the Wentz experiment is a bust at this point unless something dramatic changes.

 

[Om]

At this point I think we've confirmed what most of us here believed going in ... that Carson was a gamble at best and unlikely to have a renaissance here and become a multi-year starter ... and TH4 is as good as any backup QB in football.

So as to TH4's contract, I'd say if he's interested in resigning here as a projected QB2, you absolutely make every effort to agree on making him a well-paid one. Haven't looked at the average salary for backups, but as of today I'm happy offering him top-three money to stay on for 3-5 years depending on the structure.

Then you have to 1) figure if/how/when to take a good look at Howell--which to me isn't necessarily a one-year look for a rook who hasn't taken snaps yet--and 2) once again start scanning the landscape for another option (same as it ever was).

 

[MikefromOH]

^ what he said....lol

 

[SkinsOrlando]

That'd put Heinicke at 7 million per year as a backup if we paid him top 3 BQB money. I'd have to think on that one for a minute.

 

[Neophyte]

That'd put Heinicke at 7 million per year as a backup if we paid him top 3 BQB money. I'd have to think on that one for a minute.

If the rest of the QB room is on rookie deals, I'm okay with it. He is a brilliant influence on the whole of the team.

 

[Chris]

Second most important player on any team is the backup QB. That goes double for Washington.

 

[Om]

That'd put Heinicke at 7 million per year as a backup if we paid him top 3 BQB money. I'd have to think on that one for a minute.

I get that. Does seem like a precious price tag at first blush, but I’d have to wait and see it in context of the salary cap increase, and of course who else we have in the QB room. That number probably doesn’t work if we go out and bring in another high priced veteran. Only works with Howell and may be another rookie on first contracts.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Based on what everyone here is saying:
- Heinicke should likely get offered a backup QB contract
- He has probably earned at least a couple of years at a high rate for a backup QB
- This would imply that the team look for young QBs (cheap) to groom to be the full-time starter while having Taylor there to help them learn and potentially even start some games while they do so.

Based on the team's history:
- Heinicke doesn't get offered anything.
- They try to bring Wentz back this season, to prove that they made a good decision (stubborn and likely move based on insecurities)
- Heinicke tries to get tape made for a new team. I am not sure it works out though, so he may be available after the season. He may not. To me, it seems like a strange gamble to take, but "let's just wait and see" seems to be the FO's main go-to move.

 

[DieselPwr44]

If they do let him walk, how many years until his Ring of Fame induction?

 

[SilentThreat]

to be fair, the only reason he's even on an NFL roster is because of Turner, and as much as I'd love to see it, I dont think Turner is going anywhere this offseason. I doubt anyone is looking at him as a HC, and they just signed him to an extension so it would be admitting fault.

I think Heinicke has played himself out of vet minimum territory, and watching what's going on across the league right now, teams are willing to spend on backup QBs that are capable of winning games in a pinch. Jacoby Brissett, Geno Smith, Marcus Mariota... they're a clear step above the other backup QBs in the league like Dalton, and they're setting themselves up to compete for a shot. Heinicke is capable of that same type of a career, which isn't exactly a bad thing considering the sentence I started this post with....

 

[Bulldog]

What Taylor does more than anything else is shine the light on how SHORT Carson Wentz has been in fulfilling the expectations of a $28M cap hit and surrender of multiple draft picks.

If a guy who was undrafted and in school studying for an MBA can come back to the NFL and play evenly with our a bit better than a former #2 overall draft choice, then the trade for the latter goes into that circular file along with the Jackson III signing as a stinker that shouldn't have been made.