There aren’t a lot of starting quarterbacks in the NFL, even if it seems the Washington Football Team suits up a new one almost every week.
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The odds to start in the NFL are long enough as it is. For example, there are 130 starters in Division I college football. That’s a pretty big pool.
Taylor Heinicke decided he could be the odds, and that kept him going.
Well, that, and a little love from his family.
During Sunday’s Washington-Atlanta broadcast, Fox shared the story of how Heinicke, struggling to achieve his NFL dreams, was often forced out of bed by his brother-in-law.
The quarterback was staying with his sister and her husband, living in Georgia, where Heinicke is from.
They kept him going. Refused to give up on him when he nearly gave up on himself.
On Sunday, they were in the stadium when Heinicke recorded his second regular-season win in his third start as an NFL quarterback.
What could be seen as the end of a journey is just the beginning.
“It was pretty emotional there for a little bit,” Heinicke said after the 34-30 win. “At the end it was even more. For my sister and my brother-in-law to be there … it means a lot to me and I know they were excited to be there.”
Week after week the question gets asked whether Heinicke has done enough to secure the starting job, even when Ryan Fitzpatrick returns from his hip injury.
That question doesn’t need to be answered now because there’s simply no challenger to the job right now.
So Heinicke gets to live the life of a starting NFL quarterback. And his family gets to share, knowing they’ve contributed to a very rare achievement of him simply being on the field.
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Whether he remains a starter and grows into a leader for the WFT franchise remains to be see. For now, enjoy his story and celebrate this success.
