Heinicke took a pay cut in March to stay with the Falcons, reducing his $5 million base salary to $1.21 million, ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein reports. He also converted a $1.32 million roster bonus to a signing bonus and agreed to remove the $40,000 per-game roster bonuses for his contract. He's left with $2.53 million in real-money compensation for the second and final year of his deal, with a $4.53 million cap hit. Heinicke is in excellent position for the backup QB role behind Kirk Cousins, after Desmond Ridder was traded to Arizona for WR Rondale Moore in mid-March. The Falcons still have time to bring in competition, but it may not be a priority given that Heinicke's track record suggests he's qualified for the second spot on the depth chart. They'll at least need to bring in a camp arm or two, seeing as Cousins and Heinicke are the only QBs on the roster at the beginning of April.
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ACTIVELatest Taylor Heinicke news
Passing
| Year | Team | GP | ATT | CMP | CMP% | YDS | AVG | TD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | ATL | 5 | 136 | 74 | 54% | 890 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| 2022 | WAS | 9 | 259 | 161 | 62% | 1,859 | 7 | 12 | 6 |
| 2021 | WAS | 16 | 494 | 321 | 65% | 3,419 | 7 | 20 | 15 |
| 2020 | WAS | 1 | 19 | 12 | 63% | 137 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
Rushing
Heinicke took a pay cut in March to stay with the Falcons, reducing his $5 million base salary to $1.21 million, ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein reports. He also converted a $1.32 million roster bonus to a signing bonus and agreed to remove the $40,000 per-game roster bonuses for his contract. He's left with $2.53 million in real-money compensation for the second and final year of his deal, with a $4.53 million cap hit. Heinicke is in excellent position for the backup QB role behind Kirk Cousins, after Desmond Ridder was traded to Arizona for WR Rondale Moore in mid-March. The Falcons still have time to bring in competition, but it may not be a priority given that Heinicke's track record suggests he's qualified for the second spot on the depth chart. They'll at least need to bring in a camp arm or two, seeing as Cousins and Heinicke are the only QBs on the roster at the beginning of April.
Heinicke is poised to drop to No. 3 on Atlanta's depth chart with the team slated to sign Kirk Cousins (Achilles), Michael Rothstein of ESPN reports. Cutting Heinicke would save the Falcons roughly $7 million against the cap, with just $2 million in dead money, a move that seems like a no-brainer in the wake of Cousins' signing. Even if Atlanta is concerned about its new franchise quarterback's Week 1 availability, the team still has Desmond Ridder under contract on his affordable rookie deal. Heinicke finished 2023 as the starter over Ridder, but both signal-callers were ultimately unimpressive. The Falcons will avoid paying Heinicke a $1.3 million roster bonus if he's cut or traded prior to March 17.
He'll only be the backup even if he plays, with coach Arthur Smith announcing earlier this week that Desmond Ridder will return to the starting QB role and could stay there for the rest of the season. Heinicke finally got his shot in November, but he struggled in his three appearances -- all losses -- and came out of the third game with a hamstring injury. He's still not 100 percent after a Week 11 bye, potentially giving Logan Woodside a chance to step up to the backup QB job for a game or two.
Heinicke was also limited Wednesday, so his status for Sunday's contest versus New Orleans remains in question. The veteran quarterback was injured in the fourth quarter against Arizona in Week 10, though the issue was subsequently described as minor. Even if Heinicke is able to suit up Sunday, he's expected to return to a backup role behind Desmond Ridder.
While making his second consecutive start in the Falcons' Week 10 loss to the Cardinals, Heinicke was knocked out of the game early due to a hamstring strain and is still in recovery mode following a Week 11 bye. Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com reported over the weekend that the Falcons were planning on restoring Desmond Ridder as their starting quarterback coming out of the bye week, so Heinicke will be limited to a backup role Sunday against the Saints even if he gets the green light to suit up this weekend. The hamstring strain might have been a factor in Heinicke being demoted to the backup role, though he didn't help his case for hanging onto the starting job by completing 29 of 53 pass attempts for 323 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in Falcons losses to the Vikings and Cardinals.
Additionally, Smith said the Falcons will use the Week 11 bye to determine who will start under center when the Falcons play next against the Saints on Nov. 26. It sounds like Heinicke's hamstring injury won't be an issue by then. Desmond Ridder completed four of six passes for 39 yards and rushed three times for 11 yards and a touchdown in relief of Heinicke Sunday against the Cardinals.
Prior to his departure in the fourth quarter, Heinicke had completed eight of 15 passes for 55 yards and one touchdown while rushing four times for 34 yards. Desmond Ridder took over under center for Heinicke. With a Week 11 bye on tap, the Falcons don't play again until Sunday, Nov. 26 against the Saints.
Desmond Ridder is in at quarterback for Atlanta with Heinicke hobbled by a second-half hamstring injury. Prior to getting hurt, Heinicke completed eight of 15 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown while rushing four times for 34 yards.
Heinicke was serviceable in his first start of the season in Sunday's 31-28 loss to the Vikings, completing 21 of 38 passes for 268 yards, one touchdown and one interception, despite not having top without Drake London (groin) at his disposal. The veteran signal-caller will have another chance to make his case for a more permanent spot atop the depth chart Week 10, but Smith said that the Falcons will re-evaluate the position over the Week 11 bye. Heinicke's Week 9 performance didn't represent a significant improvement over what Desmond Ridder had offered through the Falcons' first eight games, so Heinicke will likely need to display better results against the Cardinals if he hopes to solidify his role for the second half of the season.
Career History
Previous Game
2023 Regular Season Stats
|
Regular Season
|
passing
|
rushing
|
|||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Date
|
Opp
|
Result
|
ATT
|
CMP
|
CMP%
|
YDS
|
AVG
|
TD
|
INT
|
CAR
|
YDS
|
AVG
|
TD
|
LNG
|
FD
|
|
12/31
|
L 17-37
|
29
|
10
|
34.5
|
163
|
5.6
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
46
|
11.5
|
1
|
24
|
0
|
|
|
12/24
|
W 29-10
|
33
|
23
|
69.7
|
229
|
6.9
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
5
|
0
|
10
|
0
|
|
|
11/12
|
L 23-25
|
15
|
8
|
53.3
|
55
|
3.7
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
34
|
8.5
|
0
|
16
|
1
|
|
|
11/5
|
L 28-31
|
38
|
21
|
55.3
|
268
|
7.1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
20
|
6.7
|
0
|
13
|
0
|
|
|
10/29
|
L 23-28
|
21
|
12
|
57.1
|
175
|
8.3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
14
|
7
|
0
|
11
|
0
|
|
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