Bills' Tyrod Taylor to get first-team reps in QB competition
Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley says his team's quarterback competition is open and includes former Ravens QB Tyrod Taylor.
Team OTAs start Tuesday, and Buffalo enters workouts with Taylor, returners EJ Manuel and Jeff Tuel, and Matt Cassel, most recently with the Vikings as their quarterback options.
Whaley said new head coach Rex Ryan was trying out all the options at QB. The former Jets coach has "made sure to mention Taylor" lately when asked about the competition, according to BuffaloBills.com's Chris Brown. The Virginia Tech product played sparingly in his first four seasons in Baltimore.
“The way they’re structuring practices everyone is getting a run with the ones,” Whaley told BuffaloBills.com. “So it’s a fair shake. In this system that we’re trying to figure out who is going to be the number one it’s all about competition. That’s why everybody involved is excited about it.”
The Bills went 9-7 last season but missed the playoffs. With major off-season additions in the fold including running back LeSean McCoy and receiver Percy Harvin, picking the right quarterback will be critical to the success Ryan's new offense.
“I look for [Manuel] to come in and compete and try to take the job,” he said. “Everybody has got an equal footing. It’s a clean slate for all four of our quarterbacks. We’re not tied to anybody. We just want the best man to start. It’s exciting for us.”
In response to rumors that Manuel, the club's first-round pick in 2013, could be on the outs without marked improvement, Whaley was dismissive.
“I look at it this way, in this business controversy sells,” Whaley said. “The more controversy that you can drum up then the more interesting people are going to be with whoever brought this idea to the lexicon of thinking. So for us we’re excited about the future of all three of those guys. It’s going to be a great competition. And we can keep three quarterbacks. So I dismiss that as just someone trying to get something stirred during this down time and lack of media stories for the NFL.”
The GM also called Cassel, entering his 11th pro season, "a veteran force who can galvanize the team." Buffalo dealt a 2015 fifth-rounder and 2016 seventh-rounder to acquire the QB and a 2015 sixth-rounder from Kansas City.
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