{"id":657672,"date":"2026-05-09T06:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T06:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/657672\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T06:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T06:53:09","slug":"former-commanders-fan-favorite-qb-who-once-outdueled-tom-brady-retires-after-19-million-nfl-career-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/657672\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Commanders fan-favorite QB who once outdueled Tom Brady retires after $19 million NFL career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Commanders fan-favorite QB who once outdueled Tom Brady retires after $19 million NFL career<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While not every NFL career is Hall of Fame worthy, many are notable in some way, shape, or form.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

A former Washington Commanders<\/a> fan favorite quarterback retired from the NFL<\/a> on Thursday, and he definitely had his share of memorable moments in his $19 million career, including outdueling legendary QB Tom Brady.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuarterback Taylor Heinicke, who became a fan favorite during his two-plus seasons with the Washington Commanders, announced the end of an improbable NFL career Thursday,\u201d ESPN\u2019s John Keim reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeinicke, 33, posted a message to Instagram thanking those who supported him throughout his seven-year NFL career in which he spent time with seven franchises — appearing in games for five of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“Many ups and downs throughout the years, but the ups outweigh the downs tenfold,” Heinicke wrote on Instagram. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would’ve been able to live this life… Excited for this next chapter of my life.”<\/p>\n

After short stints with the Minnesota Vikings<\/a>, New England Patriots<\/a>, Houston Texans<\/a>, Carolina Panthers<\/a>, and St. Louis BattleHawks (UFL), Heinicke received his big break with the Commanders in 2020.<\/p>\n

In his first season with Washington, Heinicke filled in for the injured Alex Smith and went toe-to-toe with Brady, who competed with the Buccaneers<\/a> at the time, in the postseason. The 33-year-old finished the Commanders\u2019 NFC Wild Card clash vs. the Buccaneers with 26 completions for 306 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in Washington\u2019s 31-23 loss.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

As a full-time starter in 2021-22, Heinicke finished the year with 3,419 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions on a Washington squad that won seven of their 17 regular-season contests.<\/p>\n

Heinicke\u2019s second season with the Commanders was highlighted by his remarkable play in Washington\u2019s highly anticipated rematch vs. Tampa Bay, the then-defending Super Bowl champions, in Week 10.<\/p>\n

Heinicke threw for 256 yards, tossed one touchdown, and finished with zero interceptions in the Commanders’ 29-19 home victory.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

After a shortened 2022-23 campaign (he only appeared in nine games and failed to lead the Commanders to the postseason), Washington moved on from the fearless 6-foot-1 signal-caller.\u00a0Heinicke subsequently joined the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> and Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> before ultimately announcing his retirement from the NFL.<\/p>\n

As a well-respected journeyman who went undrafted in 2015, it\u2019s safe to say the Old Dominion product enjoyed a successful career in the big leagues.<\/p>\n

More NFL:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Commanders fan-favorite QB who once outdueled Tom Brady retires after $19 million NFL career originally appeared on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[15832,1766,13273,49,48,1744,1737,2210,1726,1718,514,82,49080,12486,1758],"class_list":["post-657672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-alex-smith","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-buccaneers","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-houston-texans","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-taylor-heinicke","tag-tom-brady","tag-washington-commanders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}