The Buffalo Bills have been playing it somewhat coy when it comes to Tyrod Taylor as the new league year draws near, and there have been conflicting reports about what they will do with him.
Taylor will be owed $6 million if he’s still on the roster on the third day of the new year, which falls on March 17. Recently, it was reported that Buffalo would go ahead and pick up that option rather than cutting him, hoping to trade Taylor if he’s not a part of the team’s plans in 2018. Furthermore, Bills head coach Sean McDermott also said recently that the team has no plans to release Taylor (but remember, it’s lying season in the NFL right now).
However, a new report by Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports indicates nobody in the NFL believes that will happen.
“The Bills have been attempting to move on from Taylor in various ways over the past two years in two different coach/GM regimes, and no one in the NFL I’ve talked to believes they will pick up a $6M option on him later this month and then keep him around to compete with Nathan Peterman and whatever quarterback they draft for a total of $16M. They benched him in the heat of a playoff race, if you recall, and while a trade would be ideal, they aren’t dealing from a position of great strength here. It’s time to move on for all parties, and there will be a nice market of teams waiting to pounce if/when Taylor is out of Buffalo.”
Of course, there’s always a chance Buffalo does pay the $6 million roster bonus as a means to facilitate a more attractive trade. Because if the Bills do pick up that option, than any team trading for Taylor would be on the hook for a one-year deal worth just $10 million, which is a steal in today’s NFL.
This is obviously a very fluid situation. Buffalo also has two first-round picks and could be looking to move up in the draft for a top passer. In that case, keeping Taylor could be a good move, as he would be a very solid bridge. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens next. If Taylor does hit the market as a free agent, he’ll definitely receive plenty of interest as one of the top free agent quarterbacks this year.