FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who took a pay cut to return to the Atlanta Falcons, believes his days with the team are numbered.
Heinicke, a former Old Dominion University record-setter, is backing up Kirk Cousins, who was acquired in free agency, and Michael Penix Jr., the eighth overall pick in the draft. Cousins was medically cleared from his Achilles surgery, and Penix has flashed his big arm and accuracy early in training camp.
“Yeah, I kind of see the writing on the wall,” Heinicke said when asked about his role on the team after open practice Saturday night in Buford, Georgia, at Seckinger High, about 10 miles away from where he attended high school at Collins Hill. “It’s nothing that I haven’t been through before, so I accept my role in any case. My role, for me, and what I think is to help Kirk any way that I can. If he has any questions. Same thing with Mike. Sometimes the game is fast. Sometimes everything is fast for rookies.”
The Falcons also have rookie John Paddock on the roster. They don’t plan to play Cousins in the exhibition season, so Penix, Heinicke and Paddock have availability for the three games.
“I’m going to make sure that I’m on top of my stuff so that when (Cousins) does have that question, I can give him the right answer to kind of help him through it,” Heinicke said.
Heinicke, who was lightly recruited out of high school, went on to break most of ODU’s passing records. He came up the hard side of the NFL mountain as an undrafted free agent but has carved out a nice career with Minnesota, New England, Houston, Carolina and Washington.
He’s played in 38 games and made 29 starts in the regular season. He also started a playoff game for Washington after the 2020 season.
Heinicke signed with the Falcons on March 14, 2023. He served as Desmond Ridder’s backup and was eventually installed as a starter. Heinicke played in five games and went 1-3 as a starter.
“I went through this in Minnesota,” said Heinicke, who has 45 transactions listed on his profootballreference.com profile. “I went through this in Carolina. It’s one of the things where I can’t control it. Only thing I can control is how I am as a teammate and as person.”
The Falcons are likely to keep two quarterbacks and have another on the practice squad. Heinicke can count to three and is being realistic about his plight.
“So when I come in the building, I’m going to be a great teammate,” Heinicke said. “I’m going to do everything I can to be on this team and help them in every way that I can. That’s my role. I gladly accept that. I’m trying to be the best at that.”
Heinicke enjoys working with Cousins.
“I’ve learned so much from Kirk, from offseason until now,” Heinicke said. “Just the way he goes about his business, the way he approaches every meeting, every practice, it’s really cool to see.
“I wish I’d met him earlier in my career. That’s not a knock on anyone else that I’ve worked with, it’s just that I correlate with him and how he approaches things. Again, it’s a new offense for him a little bit. There are couple of nuances from last year. Motions, shifts and things like that.”
The offense is looking drastically different from how the Falcons attacked teams with a powerful running game under former coach Arthur Smith.
“You’ll see it on Sundays, it’s a totally different offense,” Heinicke said. “I think last year, we had a great offensive line and we liked to pound the rock. We had (running backs) Cordarrelle (Patterson), Tyler (Allgeier) and Bijan (Robinson). This year, a little bit more spread out. Lots of motions. You’ll see a lot of people get the ball. So it’s a really fun offense to be a part of. I think we’re all excited to see what happens on Sundays.”
