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Last year, the Washington Football Team had quite the array of starting quarterbacks. In 2019, Washington drafted QB Dwayne Haskins out of Ohio State with the intention of him being the future starter. After a few weeks of tumultuous showings, Washington released Haskins, paving the way for Alex Smith's comeback.
Smith did just that, but suffered an injury towards the end of the season. Washington then leaned on Tyler Heinicke, a quarterback who was signed to the practice squad in early December, to ride out the season and start the Wild Card playoff game versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Alex Smith retired from the NFL this offseason and Washington signed veteran NFL quarterback and journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick. It remains to be seen how the Washington Football Team will use their quarterbacks throughout the season, but Fitzpatrick is all but nailed on to be the starter come Week 1.
Washington Football Team 2021 QB depth chart
QB 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick
QB 2: Taylor Heinicke
QB 3: Kyle Allen
QB 4: Steven Montez
Washington Football Team 2021 QB depth chart analysis
QB 1 - Ryan Fitzpatrick
Ryan Fitzpatrick is entering his 17th NFL season and is on his ninth NFL team. Fitzpatrick, affectionately known as "Fitzmagic," is a reliable quarterback and should hold the starter spot down comfortably in the Washington offense, for a while at least.
In 2020, with the Miami Dolphins, Fitzpatrick mentored and then ran a two-quarterback-style offense with Tua Tagovailoa. It's not uncommon for teams to start Fitzpatrick at the start of the season and then bench him for a younger quarterback.
Unfortunately for him, that may once again be the case in Washington. With Heinicke showing promise late last season, it's very likely Fitzpatrick won't start every game this season.
QB 2 - Taylor Heinicke
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor Heinicke was on the roster of the XFL's St. Louis Battlehawks team. When the XFL shut its doors last spring, Heinicke went back to Old Dominion to finish his engineering degree.
In December, as Heinicke was finishing the semester, he was signed by the Washington Football Team and added to the practice squad. The team was desperate for quarterback depth and head coach Ron Rivera was familiar with Heinicke from the stint with the Carolina Panthers in 2018.
With Alex Smith and Kyle Allen suffering injuries and Dwayne Haskins benched, Heinicke made his first appearance late in a Week 16 game against the Panthers.
With the Washington Football Team winning the NFC East, the team hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round had Taylor Heinicke as the starting quarterback.
Heinicke completed 26 out of 44 passes for 306 yards with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown in a 31-23 loss to the soon-to-be Super Bowl champions.
Taylor Heinicke then signed a two-year deal worth $8,750,000 this offseason with Washington, giving him the opportunity to once again be the starter.
QB 3 - Kyle Allen
After two seasons with the Carolina Panthers, Kyle Allen was traded to Washington in the 2020 offseason and started four games. In those outings, he completed 60 out of 87 passes for 610 yards and had four passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. He re-signed with Washington this offseason on a one-year deal.
QB 4 - Steven Montez
Steven Montez was an undrafted free agent out of Colorado in 2020. He spent last season on and off Washington's practice squad and its active roster but never took the field. With the aforementioned names above him in the pecking order in the capital, Montez could once again be assigned to the practice squad in 2021.
