Taylor Heinicke is 2-4 through six starts as the starting quarterback for the Washington Football Team.
At 28 years old, Heinicke is part of a rare class of quarterbacks with the chance to develop late in his career, due in large part to Week 1 starter Ryan Fitzpatrick's injury during Washington's season-opener. In his time as the starting QB, Heinicke has passed for 1,658 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Heinicke's been sacked nine times, which is tied for the 26th fewest sacks taken in the league. Here's where Heinicke ranks among NFL passers in a few other key statistical categories: 64.3 completion percentage (26th), 236.9 yards per game (25th), 86.8 passer rating (24th).
Though Washington sits at 2-5 under the direction of Heinicke, Ron Rivera hasn't abandoned hope that he could potentially have a long-term solution at QB. Washington's head coach spoke at length about Heinicke's growth and development during his weekly appearance with Kevin Sheehan on Friday, presented by F.H. Furr.
Asked whether Heinicke has the "consistent arm strength" to be a legitimate full-time NFL starter, Rivera told Sheehan on The Team 980, "Yeah, I think he can be a full-time NFL starter."
"But again, he's got to continue to develop and grow," Rivera said. "I mean, this is only what, his eighth start now? Or ninth? Whatever it is. We have to understand that he's still through this process of learning and developing."
"But what about the arm strength," Sheehan hammered down.
"Oh, I think the arm talent's there. It really is," Rivera said. "You see it. It is really good arm talent, in terms of being able to make all the throws. Especially if he's got his feet set and can step in and deliver a good ball. He's got the arm talent to throw from the far hash to the outside the numbers."
"Do you agree that when he misses, he misses high more often than not," Sheehan asked. "And if so, why?"
"Yes he does," Rivera agreed. "And I think part of it is he has a tendency to throw off his back foot, hasn't gotten his weight over his front foot, and so the ball will tend to sail. Sometimes when he tries to touch passes, it will float a little bit, too, as well."
Rivera was asked to name the one flaw in Heinicke's game that he must improve in order to prove himself as a legitimate NFL starter.
"Well, I think the biggest thing is Taylor has to play with his personality," Rivera said. "He's kind of a hair-on-fire type of guy. When things speed up, things quicken, he seems to get it going. Sometimes when he overthinks things, he has a little bit more time. So to me, it's really just don't overthink it."
"Just go out and play and use your natural instincts as a quarterback," he continued. "Because he delivers a good ball, he understands coverage leverages very well as to where to throw the ball to lead the receiver, he reads defenses very quickly, and he's a good decision-maker. But there are certain times and points to his game where I think he tries to be too perfect instead of just winging it and letting it go."
