Tyrod Taylor has 'no clue' why he was benched: 'Opportunity was taken from me'

By Cameron DaSilva
Published

The Buffalo Bills ended a wildly disappointing season on a sour note Sunday, losing to the New York Jets 20-3. The loss dropped their record to 7-9, the 10th time they’ve had a losing season in the past 12 years.

It was Anthony Lynn’s debut as interim head coach after Rex Ryan was fired last week, but the bigger story was at quarterback. Tyrod Taylor was benched heading into the season finale for what was called a “business decision,” giving way to EJ Manuel and Cardale Jones as the quarterbacks.

Lynn said it was a call that was made by the higher-ups, namely Doug Whaley and owner Terry Pegula, but Taylor is still baffled by the decision. He also doesn’t think it was fair.




"They made a decision last week to sit me for the last game of the season," Taylor said, via New York Upstate. "Did I believe that was fair? No I didn't. I didn't see where it was fair. The opportunity was taken from me. That's above me. That decision was made. I had to live with it and support my guys."



Taylor said he briefly met with Whaley when the Bills decided he would sit out Week 17 but left the meeting having “no clue why it happened.” He said the reasons he was given were to explore depth at quarterback and to protect him from injury, considering the option that would be activated if he were to get hurt.


"I've heard that they wanted to evaluate the young talent that we have in EJ and Cardale," Taylor said. "I've also heard things as far as the injury clause, which I don't really put much behind that because that was the situation all year. Like I said, we'll see what the real decision was."

"That's what it showed. That's what I think it showed," Taylor said. "But at the same time, the conversation wasn't detailed enough to know if that was the case or not. Hopefully we can have that conversation this week. Maybe it's today. I'm not sure. We haven't met as a unit yet, nor have I met with the people upstairs, so maybe it will be clear what's the direction moving forward."