So, I'm not sure if anyone knows the answer to this, but can Google know what I'm typing or has any triggers if certain words are spelled out or my passwords are being typed out?
Basically, I'm trying to see if the Google Keyboard app needs to be replaced, since this is something I've been using for the past 9 years.
Yes, Gboard does log what you type, unless it's in incognito mode, which you can see by the incognito watermark in the background of the keyboard (to test this, open up an incognito mode tab in your favourite browser).
You can quieten it's need for communication by using a per-app firewall like Netguard (use the Github- or F-Droid version, since the Google Play Store version cannot filter the network traffic for ads, but only allows filtering on a per-app basis).