Washington Football Team: How Taylor Heinicke compares to Kurt Warner, Matt Flynn
How Heinicke compares to Kurt Warner’s rise to stardom
In 1994, Kurt Warner went undrafted after a strong career at Northern Iowa. After a tryout with the Green Bay Packers, he was released and worked for $5.50 an hour at a Hy-Vee grocery store before his long journey to the NFL began.
Warner would eventually join the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League and he became a star for the Barnstormers. He led the team to two Arena Bowls as the starting quarterback and drew the attention of some NFL teams.
In December of 1997, Warner signed a futures contract with the St. Louis Rams to get back into the NFL. However, Warner was allocated to Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe at the time to develop his game and got in some needed experience. He led the league in touchdown passes and passing yards before returning to the Rams… as their third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He would throw 11 passes in 1998. He completed just four of them for 39 yards.
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The Rams didn’t seem to be that high on Warner’s potential. He was left unprotected in the 1999 expansion draft, but he wasn’t selected by the Cleveland Browns. Warner was expected to be the No. 3 quarterback again for the Rams after they signed Trent Green in free agency and let Bono go, but after trading Banks, Warner was elevated to No. 2 on the depth chart. Then, he got the starting call when Green tore his ACL. And it was all uphill from there.
Warner led the Rams’ offense to one of the best years in NFL history. He helped execute “The Greatest Show on Turf” and led the league in completion percentage for three seasons in a row. He had a career-best and league-leading 41 TD passes in ’99 and led the Rams to a 13-3 record. He went from an afterthought to an All-Pro and an MVP as a first-year starter at age 28.
Warner would go on to have a Hall of Fame career and made it to three Super Bowls (one of which he won). He is one of the greatest rags-to-riches stories at the quarterback spot, and few quarterbacks have followed a longer path to glory than him.
Heinicke compares favorably to Warner. They’re roughly the same size (Warner is 6-foot-2, 214 pounds and Heinicke is 6-foot-1, 210 pounds) and they both followed a circuitous path to a starting opportunity.
Heinicke managed to get his among many injuries to quarterbacks in front of him, like Warner. Heinicke is heading into his age-28 season, the same year in which Heinicke had his breakout. And Heinicke also played at a smaller school in college and has had many stops on his NFL career, including five NFL teams and the XFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks.
Does that mean that Heinicke will be the next Warner? Not necessarily. But at the very least, their paths are similar, so the possibility has to be considered. Heinicke showed an ability to sling it against the Panthers and Buccaneers last year, so if he proves to be the best option during the offseason and preseason (if the league has one), Washington shouldn’t be afraid to trust him.
At the same time, it’s smart that the team isn’t relying solely on Heinicke. Remember, the Rams were comfortable keeping Warner around and eventually making the backup, but he had to earn that during the offseason. Expect Heinicke to have to do the same.