Sometimes its just a matter of taste. Tyrod Taylor was balling out at times for Buffalo. The team was selling him as the future, but everybody wasnt buying it.
He made the Pro Bowl in 2015 and received high praises from several analysts including Boomer Esiason when I spoke to him about Taylor prior to the season. It seemed he had won his critics over and was bracing for a breakthrough campaign.
Esiason believed as Taylor did, that job security was not a concern as the Bills and Rex Ryan believed this was the season to get over the .500 mark and challenge New England for an AFC East crown.
However, it was obvious early on that the Bills were divided on whether or not they thought Taylor was ultimately the guy to lead them to a Super Bowl. Once the Bills playoff hopes were eliminated and Ryan, one of Taylors biggest supporters, was fired, Taylors job security became as murky as the waters in the Louisiana bayou.
His absence in the season finale, which featured former starter EJ Manuel (auditioning for the other NFL teams) and rookie QB Cardale Jones, was classified by the Bills as injury-related and a business decision.
Eventually, knowledge of an impending offseason hernia surgery surfaced which made some think that Taylor was being rested to ensure that he doesnt get injured before next season.
Taylor told reporters on Monday that his job was taken from him.
“That decision is on them,” he said, via WKBW-AM in Buffalo. “I feel like I’ve done enough as far as my play to be the starter here. It wasn’t like I was outplayed, it was simply taken from me … and that decision came from them. We’ll see what the future holds.
“Did I believe that was fair? No I didn’t.”
Taylor went on to say that he would potentially think about restructuring his contract to stay with the Bills should they decline his massive option for 2017.
“It’s too early to tell right now,” he said. “Maybe that’s a possibility down the line, but we’ll visit when and if that happens.”
Taylor said that in the darkest hour, when the season was slipping away, the Bills organization showed very little confidence in him. He took the benching as a sign that he may not be a part of the Bills plans moving forward.
“Um, I mean that’s fair to say,” Taylor said, via New York Upstate. “That’s what it showed. That’s what I think it showed. But at the same time, the conversation wasn’t detailed enough to know if that was the case or not. Hopefully we can have that conversation this week. Maybe it’s today. I’m not sure. We haven’t met as a unit yet, nor have I met with the people upstairs, so maybe it will be clear what’s the direction moving forward.”
While Taylor wasnt a prolific aerial master and wouldnt be classified as a Top 10 player at his position, the sixth-year QB from Virginia Tech completed an average of 62.6 percent of his passes for 6,058 yards, 37 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also ran for another 1,148 yards and 10 touchdowns in the past two seasons.
With the season basically over, getting a look at Jones wasnt the worst thing in the world, but it obviously didnt sit well with Taylor, who feels he is getting the wrong end of the stick and his talents are underappreciated by an organization that cant seem to get over the hump of mediocrity in the front office, at the head coaching position and at the quarterback position.
