By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist

Tyrod Taylor – Signed by the Bills in 2015

There was very little to suggest that Tyrod Taylor would be a part of Bills’ history when he signed with the team.

He was a sixth-round draft choice of the Baltimore Ravens in 2011. While his athletic skills were obvious to all, the quarterback from Virginia Tech couldn’t crack the lineup. Taylor threw a total of 35 passes in four years with the Ravens. Still, he earned a three-year, $3.35 million contract with Buffalo as a free agent.

The Bills’ quarterback job was wide open in training camp, and Taylor surprised many by winning it over EJ Manuel and Matt Cassel. Taylor displayed a strong arm and fleet feet throughout his time in Buffalo. He threw for more than 3,000 yards and went to the Pro Bowl in 2015, and put up similar numbers a year later. Still, he’ll always be remembered as the quarterback who led the Bills to the playoffs in 2017.

That was the high point for Taylor. Buffalo’s coaches decided they needed better quarterback play, and traded Taylor to the Browns. He’s been a backup for the most part for Cleveland and the Los Angeles Chargers since leaving Buffalo.

He had some nice highlights in Buffalo:

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey has been involved in almost every aspect of the local sports scene for the last 40 years. He worked for WEBR Radio, the Buffalo Sabres' public relations department and The Buffalo News during that time. In that time he covered virtually every aspect of the area's sports world, from high schools to the Bills and Sabres and everything in between. Along the way, Budd served as a play-by-play announcer for the Bisons, an analyst for the Stallions, and a talk-show host. He won the National Lacrosse League's Tom Borrelli Award as the media personality of the year in 2011, and was a finalist for that same award in 2017. Budd's seventh and eighth books, one on the Transcontinental Railroad and the other about Ichiro Suzuki, are scheduled to be released in the fall.

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