Jordan Ta’amu was once regarded as a better quarterback than Taylor Heinicke. At least in one coaching staff’s eyes, anyway. In 2020, Ta’amu earned the starting nod over Heinicke for the St. Louis BattleHawks in the XFL. This was before Heinicke would go on to shine with the Washington Commanders in the NFL, before he signed a two-year, $14 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons.
Back then, it was Ta’amu — a young, dual-threat signal-caller straight from Ole Miss — who the BattleHawks were more than happy to trust.
Even in hindsight, knowing all of Heinicke’s success, former St. Louis coach Jonathan Hayes doesn’t regret it.
“Hell no,” Hayes told The Washington Times in 2021.
Years later, Ta’amu has yet to carve a similar path as Heinicke — whose stint as a backup in the upstart football league was a valuable learning experience for the 30-year-old en route to his return to the NFL. Instead, Ta’amu is still tolling away in the XFL, where the quarterback has led his team — the D.C. Defenders — to the championship round.
The Defenders face the Arlington Renegades on Saturday, with Ta’amu looking to capitalize on a productive year that he hopes will lead him back to the NFL. In the big leagues, Ta’amu has spent time with the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Washington and Carolina Panthers. But none of those stints lasted long — the 25-year-old has been only part of offseason rosters and practice squads.
But Ta’amu has worked hard to improve his game. This year, the Hawaii native earned the XFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award. He oversaw an offense that ranked first in scoring and second in yards.
As his year with the Defenders nears an end, Ta’amu said his agent is in talks for him to join an NFL team in the coming weeks. While no spot has been finalized, Ta’amu can look to Heinicke to realize that sometimes all you need is another chance.
“I feel like anyone who’s played in this league can build and get into the NFL and start playing right away,” Ta’amu said of the XFL, “because this is what we lacked. We lacked game-time experience, bullets flying in your face. … I’m hoping after this year, I’ve proved my point, proven that I can still play, that I can still throw.
“I’ve still got that dream ahead of me.”
By now, Ta’amu is no stranger to developmental football leagues. On top of his time with the BattleHawks in 2020, the signal-caller spent last year in the USFL with the Tampa Bay Bandits. That year, however, didn’t go as planned. While Ta’amu led the league in passing yards and touchdowns, he failed to receive an NFL training camp invite.
Ta’amu, too, said he felt disrespected during his time with the USFL. As a quarterback, Ta’amu says he was “getting paid the same as a long snapper,” which he said “didn’t feel right because I was getting beat up every weekend” while also finishing with the most yards. Under USFL’s pay structure, every player on an active roster — regardless of position — reportedly made $45,000 over 10 weeks.
So, Ta’amu decided to go back to the XFL. Under the third iteration of the league, which is owned by an investment group led by actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, some quarterbacks receive higher salaries than other positions, while the base rate for most is $5,000 per week with another $1,000 per win. Beyond the money, Ta’amu said he had the “time of his life” in the XFL in 2020 before the league abruptly folded because of the pandemic.
Once it became clear Ta’amu was available again, Defenders coach Reggie Barlow said Ta’amu fit the type of quarterback the team wanted “to a tee.”
“Thank God, he came with us,” Barlow said. “He is an outstanding young man. Great communicator. Great football IQ. He’s a team player. Don’t care for the credit. Just extremely smart. He’s everything that we hoped for, as we watched him at Ole Miss doing his thing. … We’re pulling for him.
“Hopefully he’ll have an opportunity to finish this thing off the right way and then of course, go and see how he measures up in the National Football League.”
So far, 52 players from the XFL have reportedly been invited to participate in NFL camps. Teams typically hold out tryouts during rookie minicamp, which for the Commanders started Thursday and runs through Saturday.
Ta’amu hopes that the strides he’s made this year will lead to another opportunity in the NFL. He credited coaches for emphasizing his need to reduce his turnovers, which he did: Ta’amu’s three interceptions this season were the fewest among passers with at least 150 attempts and a sharp reduction from the 12 he threw last season in the USFL. Barlow, too, noted the variety of throws Ta’amu was able to make that helped push back against the perception that he was more of a rushing quarterback.
Three years ago, Ta’amu leaned on Heinicke as he got his first taste of the XFL. He said the two have a great relationship, adding that Heinicke regularly broke down film with him on the sideline and showed him aspects of the game that he had missed. “Hopefully I taught him one little thing to help him,” Heinicke said in the fall of 2021.
The two were even briefly reunited in the NFL when Ta’amu was signed to Washington’s practice squad for eight days in December 2021.
“Just having him lead the way for me a little bit,” Ta’amu said, “kind of helped me out.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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