Now that they’ve found a coach and a General Manager who ought to be on the same page and can work together, the Bills now just have to go out and build an organization.
But they think one of the cornerstones may already be in place, with a few conditions.
During an interview with Peter King of TheMMQB.com, coach Sean McDermott had high praise for incumbent Tyrod Taylor, and while G.M. Brandon Beane reeled him in a bit, it’s clear Taylor’s the guy, for now.
Asked specifically if their quarterback of the future was on the roster, McDermott replied: “He is, in Tyrod Taylor. And then when you look at the competition we have behind him. We’ve drafted Nathan Peterman, we’ve added T.J. Yates, and then Cardale Jones in the draft a year ago. I’m not sure there is a team out there that has the depth that we do at the quarterback position. So we feel good about that. We’re anxious to see how Tyrod develops in his third year as a starter in a new system, a system that he has some familiarity with in terms of [new Buffalo offensive coordinator] Rick Dennison’s system in Baltimore a few years back with Gary Kubiak.”
The new G.M. then added the stipulations.
“We have open competition everywhere,” he said. “Obviously it is a quarterback league, but with Tyrod, . . . He has some tools, his speed, he is tough to game-plan for. He has some strengths and he is still a young starter in this league. It is going to be a competition for every position, to let them fight it out and earn the right to start on this team.”
McDermott came back to add: “I think that’s the key. Going back to your question, Can we guarantee he is on our roster right now? That remains to be seen and that is true at a lot of positions on our roster.”
While it’s not exactly a disagreement, it does show how the two will hopefully work together on other decisions. They have little choice but to go with Taylor at the moment, and there’s reason to think that might work. But after McDermott set the bar reasonably high for Taylor, Beane slid in with a dose of realism that no job can be truly safe in Buffalo, and the two were on the same page quickly.
It’s a small thing perhaps, and may not be as important as the salient question of whether Taylor is that guy or not, but their ability to work together to a similar conclusion will be a significant departure for a Bills organization that hasn’t always been quite so functional.