Report: Atlanta Falcons to sign QB Taylor Heinicke

Former Washington Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke signed with the Atlanta Falcons, according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport.

“The Falcons are signing former Commanders QB Taylor Heinicke, per me and Mike Garafolo,” Rapoport wrote. “With plenty of starting experience, Atlanta adds a veteran to their QB room.”

In nine games last season, Heinicke went 5-3-1 as a starter and finished with 1,859 yards, 12 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 62.2% completion percentage. He led the Commanders to the playoffs in 2020 when he took over as the starter, but lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Round.

In his career with the Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers and Commanders, Heinicke has 5,745 yards, 34 touchdowns, 24 interceptions and a 63.9% completion percentage.

Heinicke went undrafted out of Old Dominion in the 2015 NFL Draft and spent time with the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots before going to the Texans.

Right now, the Falcons are expected to turn to former Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder. He eventually started as a rookie in 2022 over Marcus Mariota towards the latter part of the season.

Ridder had a high level college career at Cincinnati, including a career year in 2021 as a senior, leading the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff. He finished his four seasons with 10,239 yards, 87 touchdowns, 28 interceptions, a 62.1% completion percentage, 2,180 rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns.

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As a member of the Class of 2017, Ridder was a three-star prospect out of Louisville (Ky.) St. Xavier, per the On3 Industry Ranking. He was the No. 8 overall prospect in the state, the No. 76 quarterback prospect in the class and the No. 1,321 overall prospect in the class.

“We will have some very intense meetings in the next couple of days,” head coach Arthur Smith said of possible position changes back in December, via the team’s website. “Obviously, I know where we’re at. We understand, too, that we’ve been in some close games lately and we need to get back over the hump. There will be changes made. Everything that we decide to do I will be as transparent as possible … You don’t want to look like you’re just blaming one person, and if you think it’s the best thing for you at that moment then, yeah, you’re going to do (make a move) because that’s what you’re paid to do. Circumstances are very different today than they were a couple weeks ago for different reasons.”

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