ESPN's Buffalo Bills writer Mike Rodak has made a surprising prediction regarding the Buffalo Bills' 53-man roster when he left veteran quarterback Matt Cassel off of it. Cassel, who is owed $4.1 million this season, was given the boot by Rodak in favor of EJ Manuel and Tyrod Taylor.
"Manuel and Tyrod Taylor both performed better than Matt Cassel this spring; Manuel wins my vote on a coin flip," Rodak wrote. Manuel was the Bills' first-round pick in 2013, taken No. 13 overall. The Manuel pick was a surprise; most teams had him rated as a second-rounder or worse, and New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith was the consensus top-rated quarterback in the class, although he wasn't a unanimous first-round grade either. Smith actually went in Round 2.
Taylor, 25, was a sixth-round pick in 2011 of the Baltimore Ravens and he has thrown just 35 regular season passes in his career. He has impressed the Bills' new coaching staff in OTAs, however, and because the current regime did not draft Manuel, there is momentum for Taylor to take over the job.
"He is an unknown, never played a whole lot in Baltimore," Bills head coach Rex Ryan said last month. "I think the ability is hard to ignore, some of the things that he has." Quarterbacks coach David Lee agreed with Ryan.
"We looked at him hard when I was with Rex with the Jets," Lee said. "He's got that uncommon speed, man, at our position. So this guy is exciting to all of us because he has that dimension of, 'Hey, I can beat you with my legs and not just my arm.'"
[ESPN]
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