Taylor Heinicke has decided to retire, ending a football journey that carried him from Old Dominion to the NFL and across multiple teams over more than a decade. He announced the news on Instagram, writing that for 25 years he had the pleasure of playing the great sport of football.
Heinicke said the game taught him a lot about himself and about life, adding that the ups of his career outweighed the downs tenfold. He thanked everyone who supported him, believed in him and gave him the chance to live out his childhood dream.
That dream took him far from where it started. Heinicke won the Walter Payton Award and the FCS Player of the Year at Old Dominion in 2012, then went undrafted in the 2015 draft and spent time with the Vikings, Patriots, Texans, Panthers and the St. Louis BattleHawks of the United Football League before carving out an NFL role.
Through his first six years in the league, Heinicke made only eight appearances, including one start with the Panthers. His breakthrough came late in the 2020 season with Washington, when he landed on the practice squad and was thrust into the Wild Card Round against the Buccaneers after Dwayne Haskins was cut and Alex Smith suffered a calf injury. Heinicke completed 26 of 44 passes for 306 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and added 46 yards and a score on the ground.
He followed that game by signing a new two-year deal with Washington and then delivered the longest starting run of his career. In 2021, after Ryan Fitzpatrick was injured in Week 1, Heinicke started 15 games and went 7-8 while completing 65 percent of his passes for 3,419 yards, 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He also ran for 313 yards and one score. The next season, as Carson Wentz’s backup, he started nine games and went 5-3-1 with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.
After the 2022 season, Heinicke signed a two-year, $14 million deal with the Falcons. He started four games in the 2023 campaign and went 1-3 before Atlanta added Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr. during the 2024 offseason, prompting a trade to the Chargers. Heinicke spent the 2024 campaign as Justin Herbert’s backup and was limited to five pass attempts in four cameo appearances. He then signed a one-year, $6.2 million deal with Los Angeles during the 2025 offseason, but Trey Lance won the backup battle and Heinicke did not make it to the regular season with the team. He did not get another NFL job during the 2025 season.
Heinicke will finish his career with 42 appearances, 29 starts, a 13-15-1 record, 33 touchdown passes, 21 interceptions and three rushing scores. It is a career built on sudden chances and long stretches of waiting, and his retirement closes the book on one of the league’s most unlikely surviving quarterbacks.
