NFL Spin Zone
Fansided

Washington Football Team grades for the 2021 offense

By Hunter Noll

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - JANUARY 09: Antonio Gibson #24 of the Washington Football Team celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on January 09, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - JANUARY 09: Antonio Gibson #24 of the Washington Football Team celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on January 09, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 7
Next
Washington Football Team Taylor Heinicke
LANDOVER, MARYLAND – JANUARY 02: Taylor Heinicke #4 of the Washington Football Team throws a pass against the Philadelphia Eagles at FedExField on January 02, 2022 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /

Washington Football Team quarterbacks

Ryan Fitzpatrick came in to be Washington’s starting quarterback in 2021. He made six pass attempts before an injury ended his season. Would’ve been interesting to see what he could’ve done. But either way, Washington would’ve needed to make upgrades to the position this offseason.

Kyle Allen went 12-for-19 for 120 yards and one touchdown in limited work. Garrett Gilbert started a game and managed to go 20-for-31 for 194 yards but boy did the offense look ugly that week.

The main starter this season was Taylor Heinicke. This is a really really tough one to grade. Let’s be honest, his overall season wasn’t great. Heinicke has a very weak arm and a little too much confidence in it. I’ve talked about it before but that play where McLaurin got hurt was comical. Heinicke waved him to go deep then promptly underthrew him which led to McLaurin having to go back and get into a jump ball situation. It wasn’t pretty.

Heinicke’s overall numbers were decent. He went 321-for-494 (65%) for 3,419 yards and 20 touchdowns. That’s pretty solid for anyone, let alone someone with Heinicke’s path to the NFL.

However, he also had 15 interceptions and a number of really bad games.

He added 313 yards and a touchdown on 60 carries (5.2 yards per carry). That was a nice addition to the offense. Having a mobile quarterback always adds a little excitement. But he fumbled seven times, which again isn’t great.

Overall it wasn’t a very good season for a starting quarterback. But for someone in Heinicke’s situation, it was great. He wasn’t in the NFL for a while before his 2020 return. Then he wasn’t supposed to start this year before being thrust into the role midway through the first game. So for that, you have to boost the grade a little bit.

Final grade: B-

Overall, the quarterbacking wasn’t good. We’re not taking out the whole “personal accomplishments” stuff. It doesn’t matter what challenges they faced, now we’re just looking at the position as a whole. And that lowers the grade pretty drastically. Especially because we’re now adding in that Gilbert game. 202.4 passing yards per game is really bad, the 12th worst in the league.

Final grade: D+ get Terry McLaurin a real quarterback, please

Home/Washington Commanders