Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills have a quarterback problem.
While Tyrod Taylor appears to be the man taking control in the quarterback competition, Ryan has repeatedly made it clear he won’t name a starter until the start of the season. Now, he’s acknowledged that the Bills will likely keep all three quarterbacks—Taylor, Matt Cassel and E.J. Manuel—on the roster heading into the season.
Rex says there is a "high possibility" of keeping the top three QBs on the roster for the season. #BillsCamp
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 22, 2015
Most teams carry just two during the season, with one stashed on the practice squad for insurance.
Even now, the team is rotating all three in with the starting offense during practices heading into Week 3 of the preseason schedule. This is normally the time when teams leave their starting quarterback in with the starting offense for a half of play—if not three full quarters.
While Taylor has been highlighted in the media, and by Ryan himself, as the most exciting of the players, he is untested. He performed mop-up duty during his four years with the Baltimore Ravens, displaying spotty accuracy (54.3 percent completion rate) and poor decision-making (no touchdowns and two interceptions).
Cassel is the steadiest option of the three, but he also has displayed similar deficiencies the past three seasons with 20 touchdowns compared to 25 interceptions.
Manuel has been simply awful at times this summer and is the outlier in this competition. However, the Bills at this point feel (rightfully so) that he needs to be kept around for insurance, should the other two fail.
Truth be told, given the way things have gone for Buffalo thus far, it’s likely all three quarterbacks will play at some point in 2015. This situation isn’t ideal in Buffalo heading into Week 3. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Bills play things out in the third game.