Washington Football Team reportedly signing QB Taylor Heinicke to practice squad
Taylor Heinicke will reportedly sign with the Washington Football Team’s practice squad.
The Washington Football Team had three open spots on their practice squad on Tuesday, and now all of them have been filled.
Earlier in the day, Washington brought in a couple of offensive tackles to provide depth on the offensive line. One of them was a familiar face who spent three offseasons with Washington, so those moves were smart.
Additionally, the team has decided to make a more unexpected addition to the practice squad. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Washington is expected to sign quarterback Taylor Heinicke to the practice squad. Heinicke has experience playing for Scott Turner, as Pelissero explained.
The Washington Football Team is expected to sign QB Taylor Heinicke to the practice squad once he finishes COVID testing, per source. Reunited with OC Scott Turner, who found Heinicke at Old Dominion and coached him in Minnesota and Carolina.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 1, 2020
On the surface, this move may seem strange, but there could be a good reason for it.
Last week, the Denver Broncos saw all four of their quarterbacks be deemed ineligible for their game against the Saints because they either tested positive for COVID or were high-risk close contacts to someone who did. As a result, practice squad receiver Kendall Hinton had to start at the position and the results were disastrous.
Perhaps Washington looked at what happened there and thought that adding another quarterback to the fold would be a good idea. They could take a page out of the Buffalo Bills’ handbook and have a “quarantine quarterback” around. That’s what Buffalo is doing with Jake Fromm. They’re keeping him away from the facility so that if there is an outbreak, he can come in and start and at least give the team a decent option at the position (or at least an actual quarterback at the position).
Of course, this is just speculation, but if that is Washington’s plan, it would be a sensible one. They have extra space on the practice squad, after all, so adding Heinicke, a man familiar with Turner’s offense, certainly wouldn’t hurt. And in this uncertain season, you can never have enough depth at any position, but that’s especially true of the quarterback spot.
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We’ll soon see if that’s why Washington moved to get Heinicke or if they just wanted extra depth and competition in their room. Either way, adding Heinicke, who threw for 274 yards, a TD, and an interception in the lone start of his career back in 2018, is a fine move from a depth perspective.