John Harbaugh served notice this morning at the owners meetings in Orlando that the Ravens will likely look for a backup quarterback – or one at least that will give Tyrod Taylor some competition.
“Well, you know, Tyrod’s only got one year left on his contract,” Harbaugh told reporters. “We’ve been very happy with Tyrod, and we feel like he has a great future, but we have been a little disappointed how he’s played in games certainly. We feel like he’s a lot better than he’s showed. I know he feels that way too.”
Perhaps Taylor just doesn’t fit into the new offensive scheme of coordinator Gary Kubiak or there is something either him or new quarterback coach Rick Dennison aren’t comfortable with.
Either way, the words uttered by Harbaugh aren’t exactly a strong vote of confidence in Taylor if Flacco does succumb to injury in 2014.
While Taylor has shown flashes of playing ability with his legs, his struggles have often been in the passing game. Not too shocking, considering the lack of snaps he has taken under center outside of training camp and preseason games.
Since being drafted in 2011, Taylor has appeared in just 13 regular season games.
In those 13 games, Taylor has amassed just 199 passing yards on 35 career attempts, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. In 2013, Taylor went just 1/5 in passing attempts for just two total yards and one interception.
Taylor does thrive with his legs; however, extending plays or often leaving the pocket to soon is a dangerous game in today’s NFL.
During those same 13 career games Taylor has recorded 139 yards rushing on 23 attempts and one touchdown.
“We feel like Tyrod’s best football is by far definitely in front of him, but he’s only got one year left with us, so we need to add a quarterback into the mix, whether it be offseason or in the draft,” Harbaugh added.
The move to find another back-up quarterback, either in free agency or the draft, makes sense.
Per Brian McFarland, our resident Salary Cap genius, Taylor is set to make a base salary of $645,000 in 2014 with a bonus proration of $26,327. If the Ravens do decide to go with someone who outperforms Taylor in camp it would be a savings of $645,000 (minus whatever the new backup would make) because the balance is the bonus proration, which counts no matter what. In the last year of a player’s deal there no other prorations to accelerate.
A well respected team player who gives his all both on the field and off, even if Taylor does somehow survive this offseason and stays with the purple and black, it will likely be his last year in Baltimore.
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