Before last week, the Bills had to decide whether to guarantee $30.5 million in payments to unlock the next five years of Tyrod Taylor’s contract. With Taylor and the Bills agreeing to a new deal, they’ll pay him a total of $30.5 million for two more seasons.
Via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com, Taylor agreed to slash his pay over the next two years from $40.5 million to $30.5 million, in exchange for the ability to hit the market (or to be tagged) in 2019. With only $1 million of his $10 million salary in 2018 guaranteed at signing and a $6 million roster bonus due at some point during the 2018 league year (presumably, early in it), the Bills will be in a similar boat next March, with a lot less on the line than this year.
It’s a win-win, given that Taylor didn’t play so well to make picking up the option under his old contract a no-brainer or so poorly to make cutting him a no-brainer. Given that Taylor’s agent had some “casual conversation” aimed at finding out what other teams would pay, it’s safe to say that Taylor made the decision with eyes wide open, and that his quid pro quo comes from the opportunity to become a free agent in 2019, when he’ll be 29.