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Washington has Taylor Heinicke | No need for Cam Newton or any QB trade

Taylor Heinicke has what it takes to lead the Washington Football Team. Daniel Kelly feels he is ready!

I do not know what it is about Washington quarterback (QB) Taylor Heinicke, but the team’s fan-base as a whole, has been anything but supportive of him. 

Here is a snap shot of his three games for the team (he did not start the CAR game) 

CAR 12/19 (63.2%) 137 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT.

TB 26/44 (59.1%) 306 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.

LAC 11/15 (73.3%) 122 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. 

I don’t know about any of you, but to me as someone who grew up watching Joe Gibbs’ teams and someone who scouted on arguably the greatest staff in NFL history, that’s pretty damn good. It is absolutely good enough to win with – – especially with this defense. Washington with Heinicke gave Tampa Bay more of a game than Kansas City did with QB Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl.

All off-season I had to sit here and watch social media light up about “who should we go get,” would it be Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, Derek Carr, Marcus Mariota, or my favorite, the asinine suggestion by Michael Lombardi, that the team should push up all of their chips in the draft for Trey “the gimmick” Lance.

This preseason I charted all of Lance’s plays for San Francisco when he was in the game. Lance only was able to convert 30% of his third downs, could only complete 16% of his intermediate throws and had an overall completion ratio of 39%. 

No. The Washington Football Team has their man. It’s Taylor Heinicke.  

Then the team signed journey man QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, who lasted not even one game and now they are back to Taylor Heinicke. 

I do not see Watson leaving Houston and nobody in their right mind should want Rodgers. I spent the off-season writing about what a cancer he has become and how the Packers needed to get rid of him or cut him or so whatever they could to run him out of the building – – week one proved my point. 

Heinicke is the man. Heinicke is where he belongs as QB1 of the Washington Football Team. 

The last thing in the world Washington needs is QB Cam Newton and the freak show he brings with him. It has nothing to do with being vaccinated or not (outside of the fact head coach Ron Rivera has been extremely outspoken about how he feels about being vaccinated). 

It has to do with Newton has been done as a football player since 2019. 

Cam Newton is done and when Bill Belichick (someone I used to work with) cuts you – – you know you are done. The New England Patriots do not cut good football players, they trade them at the very least. 

When is the last time you have ever seen a player cut by New England go anywhere else and play well? 

After my interview with former Team President Bruce Allen for a position in coaching or scouting, I wrote an evaluation soon after in 2019 on Newton in Carolina (the week Washington was getting ready to play them) and I did a full-team scouting report: 

QB #1 Cam Newton 6’5” 245 (Grade: C)

Good size with average accuracy and mobility at this stage of his career. He has struggled with foot and a right shoulder injury. Underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his right shoulder in January of 2019. Still has a dynamic feeling to him when he’s on the field, still has that feeling of swagger, but his accuracy really hurt the team in the first couple game of the season when he was the starter. Sets up in the pocket and has a flexible looking big wind up. Really gets his arm into it. Elongated and smooth looking release. Slings it. Flashes some arm strength, but mostly average arm strength overall. Can still put some heat on it once in a while. Puts arm into it. Kind of felt like his arm is dying watching him play. Really struggled with accuracy in the first couple games of the season. Hurt the team with his inaccuracy. Was all over the place. Average playing speed when running. Big name player who has one more stop left in him because of who he is. He’s in the twilight and downside of his career.

Sure enough – – just like I said in my report, Newton did indeed have one more stop in him and now – – he is out of football. 

I also do not like QB Kyle Allen either and gave him the same average (C) grade back in 2019 when he played for Carolina. Watching Allen play for the Panthers back then was like watching paint dry. 

Take it from me – – a guy who grew up watching Joe Theismann, Jay Schroeder, Doug Williams, Stan Humphries and Mark Rypien, Taylor Heinicke could have played for Gibbs back in the team’s glory days.

Washington has their franchise QB just like I wrote back in May. 

His name is Taylor Heinicke. 

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He currently writes for Sports Illustrated Detroit Lions and he is a contributing evaluator for Draft Diamonds. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. He can be followed on Twitter @danielkellybook and his Facebook page is WHATEVER IT TAKES NFL TALK. 

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