The Atlanta Falcons don’t really know what they have at the quarterback position. Last season, they had unimpressive veteran Marcus Mariota, and at-times-impressive third-round rookie Desmond Ridder. Atlanta’s aggregate quarterback completed 61.9% of its passes for 7.1 yards per attempt, 17 touchdowns, and nine interceptions — efficient enough, but the exact opposite of explosive.
Replacing Mariota in the short term in the low-ceiling veteran category will be former Washington Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke on a two-year, $14 million deal with $6.32 million guaranteed. The deal could go as high as $20 million with incentives.
The low grade here doesn’t have much to do with Heinicke — it’s really more about the Falcons kicking a small can down the road at the game’s most important position, wasting the efforts of a great offensive skill position group and a good offensive line in the process. Heinicke immediately becomes the best quarterback on Arthur Smith’s roster, and unless Atlanta wants to get funky with the eighth pick in the draft, that’ll remain so.
The good news? You could do a lot worse than Heinicke as a premier backup and spot starter.
Anytime you have a quarterback with nearly three times more explosive plays than interceptions in a season… well, you have something to work with, even if that quarterback may not project as an obvious starter. Heinicke was one-third of the Commanders’ WTF quarterback troika that ended up with Carsen Wentz getting benched, and fifth-round rookie Sam Howell as the prohibitive starter heading into 2023. When Heinicke was on the field, he did alright, completing 62.2% of his passes for 1,859 yards (7.2 yards per attempt), 12 touchdowns, six interceptions, and 17 explosive plays. On throws of 20 or more air yards, he completed 11 of 29 for 383 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Heinicke has a decent sense of the field, can make the occasional big throw, and though he’s a bit random at times, he’s not a serial error factory. This 41-yard completion to Terry McLaurin in Week 10 against the Eagles shows his ultimate upside.
Again, this isn’t about Heinicke’s place in the Pantheon — it’s more about his travels from one WTF QB situation to another.
