Taylor Heinicke has been waiting for this moment for six years.
An undrafted and undersized quarterback out of an overlooked college program in 2015, Heinicke finally has the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to prove himself as a starting quarterback in the NFL at 28 years old. The Old Dominion product has had to fight for every opportunity he's been given, and it still nearly drove him to give up on the game.
Now 1-0 as a starter for the Washington Football Team, after last week's thrilling 30-29 victory over the Giants, that moment is finally upon Heinicke. And "he's always ready for his moment," as the frequent refrain goes from teammate Terry McLaurin.
It would never have happened without Scott Turner's belief in him every step of the way. Now offensive coordinator for the Washington Football Team, Turner was a quarterbacks coach for Minnesota in 2015 when he pushed to get Heinicke an opportunity with the Vikings. In fact, Turner was the only NFL coach to attend Heinicke's pro day at ODU. The rest of the league sent scouts, none of whom spent the time with Heinicke to develop a personal connection with him like Turner did.
It was Turner who later brought Heinicke into Carolina and now Washington. So there's perhaps no better person to discuss how a quarterback of Heinicke's ability managed to slip through the cracks of the NFL system. It's a system that's designed first and foremost to prioritize QB prospects by draft position, with a new crop coming in every year, so you can imagine the uphill struggle that might present for someone who was never drafted, let alone someone who was never drafted six years ago.
Turner was asked Wednesday if there were any specific deficiencies in Heinicke's game that led the rest of the league to pass on him, and if he's done anything since to assuage those concerns. It provoked an insightful response from Washington's OC, Heinicke's lone and longtime champion.
"Well, that's a pretty complicated question. Not the way you asked it, but just the answer of that," Turner said. "He's from a small school. He was not recruited out of high school. He started [at] an FCS school that became an FBS, or whatever, was not invited to the combine, and he's little."
"So all of those factors kind of led to him flying under the radar," he said. "Now, he's a very good athlete. We signed him in Minnesota as an undrafted free agent and he made our 53-man roster because of the way he performed in the preseason."
"As far as the sticking on the roster goes," Turner went on, "he's had some untimely injuries and I think that's set him back his time. And then also, people, for whatever reason, they fall back to their original evaluation on people. So he's always gonna be seen as an undrafted guy until he continues to do the things he's been doing, but he's got to do it over time. As soon as a guy like that — he can have five great games, and if he has one bad game, it's like, 'Oh, well, here's the undrafted guy that everybody knows.' And I'm not saying it's fair or not fair, but perception's reality and that's just how things work."
"So when you have somebody like that, they've got to do above and beyond to get an opportunity," he said. "Fortunately for us and for Taylor, he was able to get that opportunity and he's really played the way that he's played in the preseason, if you look back on the tape. And he's earned the confidence of this team and everybody around him."
Heinicke's put two brilliant performances on display for Washington, first against Tom Brady and the eventual Super Bowl champion Buccaneers in last year's playoffs, and in last week's game against the Giants that brought the Football Team to 1-1 on the season. Now he's just got to prove he can do it consistently with about six weeks to do it. If he succeeds, he may finally wash himself of that 'undrafted' stink that's held him down for so long.
One thing's for certain as the defining moment of his career arrives: Heinicke will be ready for it.
