Taylor Heinicke was studying for his final exams in December when he finally got the call.
Undrafted in 2015, the 27-year-old quarterback had already kicked around the league with four different teams, was exiled to the minors, starting 2020 as an XFL backup for the St. Louis BattleHawks, and lost that job, too.
He had one last hope keeping his NFL fire burning.
"Be ready."
That's what Washington offensive coordinator Scott Turner, the only NFL coach to attend his pro day at ODU five years earlier, told Heinicke last summer.
Coming off an unlikely win against a previously undefeated Steelers team and with starter Alex Smith hobbling through a calf strain and bone bruise, the 5-7 Washington Football Team, improbably, was pushing for a playoff spot and needed some insurance at quarterback.
Heinicke, who had left ODU years earlier for the NFL a few credits shy of his degree, returned to Norfolk in the fall and it was now crunch time.
He picked up the phone. Those credits would have to wait. He now had another exam to study for.
Heinicke signed to Washington's practice squad on Dec. 8, taking the most unglamorous role as the "quarantine quarterback," which would exile him once more. Heinicke was asked to isolate himself from the other quarterbacks, the emergency option in the event COVID-19 broke out in the quarterback room, taking out the other passers.
Though he never thought he'd have to turn to him, Turner had faith in Heinicke, who already knew his offense from Carolina. Less than three weeks later, the strangest confluence of events led Heinicke into the unlikeliest return to NFL action, against his former team.
Smith's leg — the same one on which he'd undergone 17 surgeries to make his own unlikely return — wasn't responding to treatment and Dwayne Haskins, who had looked shaky at best in relief for two games prior, suddenly looked completely lost through three quarters against Carolina.
Taylor was in and got Washington's offense going, passing for 137 yards and touchdown while scrambling for another 22 yards. Falling a touchdown short, Heinicke operated effectively enough that he had every fan believing, if he'd gone in the game just a little sooner, he would have helped Washington secure a playoff spot that day.
Smith returned the next week for the regular season finale, limping Washington to the NFC East title with a narrow 20-14 victory over the Eagles.
Heinicke's biggest test was yet to come.
The 7-9 Football Team was now preparing to face the 12-4 Buccaneers, one of the hottest teams in the NFL coming off a four-game win streak, led by some ragged old system quarterback named Tom Brady.
With the game scheduled for Saturday, Heinicke wouldn't find out he'd be starting until that Friday.
"Day before the game and [you're going] up against Tom Brady," Heinicke told The Sports Junkies in January. "But I was preparing all week like I was starting, so I wasn't surprised, I wasn't nervous. I felt like I was ready to go."
With the nation watching, Heinicke played the game of his life, emerging as a true gamer as he stood toe to toe with the greatest quarterback the game has ever seen. When receiver after receiver dropped critical balls, Heinicke would tuck it and run, spinning free from oncoming defenders.
He nearly tied the game in the third quarter, if not for a blown two-point conversion, ducking through the clasping reach of two defenders on a third-and-5 that was the stuff of legends.
Starting from the eight-yard line, Heinicke wiggled free and took off on a beeline for the corner of the end zone, outstretching into a superman dive as he leapt from the four to the pylon, sending it tumbling for the score. Heinicke even impressed himself with the distance he traveled through the air on that one.
Amazingly, Washington only trailed by two points heading into the fourth quarter and were in it until the very end, defeated by just eight points when Heinicke was sacked at midfield on Washington's final drive, creating an impossible fourth-and-21 scenario against one of the league's most stout defenses.
In the end, eight points separated them from the eventual Super Bowl champions, an outcome so unfathomable at the start of the game, it zapped all the sting of the playoff loss from the fanbase, who found themselves reenergized by the future prospects of their newfound star.
All they wanted was to see him get a chance — same as him, same as anyone — to compete for the starting job next season, a chance he'd finally get when signing a two-year contract extension with Washington on Wednesday.
"You always want some security, and I feel like a two-year deal kind of gives you that," Heinicke told reporters. "I've never felt like I've had two feet in the door in the NFL. I feel like I've always been fighting, trying to either make practice squad or just get on the 53. It's kind of been one foot in, one foot out."
"Now I actually feel like there's a little bit more security there, and this is the first time I've felt that while being in the league, so it's a great feeling," he said. "It's happened very quickly, so I'm still trying to fathom everything and soak it all in."
Heinicke, who battled through the blistering pain of a separated shoulder he suffered on that unforgettable leap, can take a bit more precaution now, knowing he won't be sent back to Norfolk if he doesn't reach that pylon.
"The two times I've started and played, it's been kind of wild," he said. "Those were my two times to make a name for myself. I didn't know if I was gonna get another chance. So yeah, I was out there leaving it all on the field."
Now, in a Week 2 game against whoever, "I'm not diving for that pylon," he said. "I'm getting the first down, getting out. We've got four more downs to get a touchdown."
Taylor Heinicke isn't a changed man now that he's found a little money, to be clear.
"My style of play of kind of making things happen with my feet and stuff like that, I think that's a part of my game," he assured. "So I don't see myself changing that in any way."
For now, Heinicke will put off finishing his college degree once more, hoping to complete his remaining credits next spring.
He passed his exams, by the way, after briefly stepping away to moonlight as a playoff starter.
Every last one of them.
