The Buffalo Bills still working to lock up Tyrod Taylor
By Jon Dove
The Buffalo Bills and Tyrod Taylor are still working to agree on a long-term deal.
According to the Buffalo News’ Vic Carucci, there’s a possibility that Tyrod Taylor and the Bills come to turns on a long-term deal before the start of the season. This is an interesting development that is a little surprising– especially with the reports of the Bills taking a look at Nick Foles.
Taylor is coming off a breakout year that saw him go from a career backup to a potentially franchise quarterback. His strong season put him in a good position to negotiate a long-term deal, but the Bills wisely took their time with the process.
Buffalo should continue to hold their ground in order to protect themselves financially. We’ve seen plenty of quarterbacks turn one successful season into a big contract. A lot of those situations didn’t work out.
Some of the better examples are Scott Mitchell, Matt Cassel and Derek Anderson. Those situations were different than Taylor’s thanks to the presence of the franchise tag. Buffalo could play it safe by not giving Taylor a new deal and letting this year play out.
This would allow them to get a better evaluation on Taylor’s future success and use that during negotiations. If Taylor has another strong year, but long-term negotiations don’t go well the Bills could use the franchise tag.
There are some negatives to going in this direction which could potentially create some bad blood. Most players don’t like the franchise tag because it doesn’t offer long-term stability. It also gives off a vibe that the franchise isn’t committed to the player.
Buffalo has a tough decision to make thanks to the potentially big money attached to a new deal and the fact is still an unproven commodity. If they do strike a new deal it’ll be interesting to see the contract numbers. This will show exactly how the Bills view Taylor’s future.