Tyrod Taylor will remain with the Bills after he and the team agreed to a restructured contract Wednesday.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
Bills head coach Sean McDermott said last Wednesday at the NFL Combine that team was going to exhaust all the time they had in making a call on Tyrod Taylor’s contract option, and ultimately do what they felt was best for the organization. One week later the Bills have decided to move forward with Tyrod Taylor as their quarterback after he agreed to restructure his contract.
“We are excited about the opportunity to keep Tyrod with the Bills,” said McDermott. “I’ve gotten a chance to know Tyrod and study him over the past several weeks and he is both a great person and competitor. Doug (Whaley) and I are confident this was best move for the Bills at this time.”
Taylor, who finished the last two seasons ranked seventh and ninth in ESPN’s Total QBR metric, has become one of Buffalo’s team leaders over the past two seasons and is widely respected in the locker room.
In an appearance on the John Murphy Show last month, Taylor expressed his desire to return to the Bills for the 2017 season.
“Of course. I know the team very well,” said Taylor. “I know how close we are as a team. I know the talent that we have on the team. We can be a very special team, especially with the right leadership. And I think we have the right coaches who are definitely ready to go out there and make us work and help us turn this thing around.”
Taylor also has familiarity with offensive coordinator Rick Dennison having worked with him in Baltimore in the 2014 season when he served as Joe Flacco’s backup.
“He’s a great coach. A great person as well too,” Taylor said. “I’m familiar with the system. It’s pretty much coach Kubiak’s system that he had in Houston. Coach Dennison had been with coach Kubiak a long time so I’m definitely familiar with his system.”
Buffalo’s head coach also told Buffalobills.com last week that Taylor’s skill set does mesh well with their offensive scheme.
“It absolutely fits what Rick wants to do,” said McDermott of Taylor. “It’s a great system. That’s one of the reasons I hired Rick. We look forward to putting pieces together to build this team the right way.”
Taylor helped lead an offense last season that finished 10th in the league in scoring after finishing 12th in points per game in 2015, his first year as a starter. Buffalo’s offense also finished tied for sixth in the league in red zone touchdown percentage scoring touchdowns on almost 65 percent of their possessions.
The Bills quarterback also had his most productive individual game in his final start of the 2016 season in Week 16 when he threw for 329 yards and three touchdowns on 26 of 39 passing against the Dolphins.