Tyrod Taylor: Most Surprising Player of 2015?
In a recent article for SI.com, Tyrod Taylor was picked by Chris Burke as the most surprising player of the 2015 season. Taylor was signed by the Bills in the offseason to compete in a three-way quarterback race with Matt Cassel and E.J. Manuel. He not only won that competition, but he had a good year and went on to play in the Pro Bowl as an alternate selection. According to Burke’s article, Taylor had only thrown 35 regular season passes prior to this season and nobody was predicting for him to be in the Pro Bowl.
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Most experts would agree that Taylor had a very solid year as the Buffalo Bills starting quarterback. According to ESPN.com, Tyrod finished the season tied for the 7th best quarterback rating with league MVP Cam Newton. He was also ranked the 9th best quarterback in the league by Pro Football Focus.
Overthecap.com lists his cap hit for 2016 at a little over $3.1 million which ranks as the 30th highest number at his position next season. The Bills are getting tremendous value out of Tyrod considering he is ranked amongst the top ten quarterbacks, per the sources in the previous paragraph, while making a salary commensurate with the 30th best quarterback in the league.
Tyrod Taylor’s success was not expected this season, but with Richie Incognito on the roster are you sure he is even the most surprising player on the Bills? Buffalo had many other players who surprised in both positive and negative ways throughout the season. Let’s examine some of them.
Next: Tyrod Taylor Most Surprising Bills Player in 2015?
Was Tyrod Taylor the Most Surprising Buffalo Bills Player in 2015?
The Bills had many players whose performance in 2015 could be considered surprising whether it was in a good or bad manner.
Fans were dumbfounded when Dan Carpenter missed six extra points during the season. He had been a very reliable kicker for Buffalo in his first two seasons. He is paid close to one of the top ten kickers in the league despite the fact that he doesn’t even take the kickoffs for the team. It was shocking to see him miss six extra points and to hear chatter about whether he should be cut by the Bills during the season.
The Bills had a running back who scored nine touchdowns and, unexpectedly, his name wasn’t LeSean McCoy. It’s also surprising that this running back, Karlos Williams, was able to contribute as much as he did as a rookie who was selected in the 5th round.
No one expected Richie Incognito to be able to come back from not playing in the league for a year and a half to having a Pro Bowl season. He was selected to the team as an alternate. It was not a given that Richie would be a positive influence in the locker room but he showed that he had matured and was a leader for the team.
Bills fans were worried about how long Leodis McKelvin would be out with an injury when Ronald Darby played poorly early in the pre-season. Not long after the season started, Bills fans stopped worrying about that. Darby did so well, that when McKelvin came back, he was used as a safety instead of cornerback due to the way Darby excelled in his role and because of the injuries the team had sustained at safety.
Despite all of these other unexpected performances, both good and bad, Tyrod Taylor was definitely the most surprising of the bunch. If someone stated that the Buffalo Bills would have a quarterback in the Pro Bowl before last season started, most people would tell that person to check themselves into a mental institution.
With Tyrod being established as the most surprising player on the Bills roster, it’s time to move on to the rest of the league and to examine if any other players deserve to be labeled the most surprising in 2015.
Next: More Surprising Than Manning and Berry?
Was Tyrod Taylor More Surprising than Peyton Manning and Eric Berry?
In 2014, Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. At the time, Berry vowed to be back in the NFL but he had no idea how long it would take to fight the biggest battle of his life.
It turns out it did not take very long at all for Berry to play again in the NFL. The last game he played in 2014 was on November 20th and his first game back in 2015 was on September 13th. Not only did Berry make it back to the NFL, but he was selected to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time and won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Peyton Manning had one of the most surprising seasons of all. It was obvious towards the end of last season that his physical abilities were not as good as they once were, but what else would you expect from a 39-year-old quarterback who has had multiple surgeries? Even with his declining performance, it was shocking when the Broncos benched Manning week 10 in favor of Brock Osweiler. Manning would not play again until the final week of the season against San Diego.
Despite this wild ride in the regular season, the Broncos were able to thrive in the postseason. Manning was able to make up for his diminished physical skills by avoiding turnovers throughout the playoffs and putting up just enough points than the other teams who could not overcome Denver’s defense. The Broncos won the Super Bowl, so Mannings season went from starting, to benched and injured, to starting, to champion. That’s one wild ride!
Next: What about Fitzgerald, Kaepernick, & Martin?
What About Larry Fitzgerald, Colin Kaepernick & Doug Martin?
For five straight seasons from 2005 to 2011, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald finished with over 1,000 yards receiving. After that, he went three straight years without getting 1,000 yards. No one was expecting the 32-year-old receiver, who appeared to be on the decline, to reverse this trend but that’s exactly what he did when he caught 109 passes for 1,215 yards.
Colin Kaepernick losing his job to Blaine Gabbert was also one of the more shocking things to happen this year. In 2012, Kaepernick helped guide the 49ers to the Super Bowl when they lost to the Ravens. The following year, they made it back to the NFC Championship game, but could not overcome the Seattle Seahawks. In 2014, they had a mediocre season when they finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs. Still, not many were expecting Kaepernick to be benched after nine games this year for Blaine Gabbert.
Doug Martin had a great rookie campaign and was a rising star in the NFL. He followed that with two disappointing seasons and seemed on the verge of being written off as an NFL starter. He needed to have a good 2015 season if he wanted to continue his career and that’s exactly what he did. He amassed 1,402 yards on 288 carries for an average of almost five yards per carry. His 1,402 rushing yards were the second most in the NFL to Adrian Peterson. The below table from his player profile on ESPN.com shows just how drastic his numbers declined before this past season.
So what’s the verdict? Was Tyrod Taylor the most surprising player of the 2015 season?
Next: The Verdict
The Verdict
There were many surprises in the 2015 season including Tyrod Taylor. It’s tough to determine a winner because there were so many equally unexpected performances by players. The top three most surprising players were probably Tyrod Taylor, Peyton Manning, and Eric Berry.
It’s likely that what propelled Tyrod to be Chris Burke’s pick was that he plays quarterback, the most important and most talked about position in the NFL. Sure Peyton Manning is also a quarterback, and won the Super Bowl, but that pick wouldn’t have been as shocking and fun as picking Taylor.
With Berry winning the Comeback Player of the Year Award and Manning winning the Super Bowl, Chris Burke made the right selection in choosing Tyrod Taylor. Before this year, he was relatively unknown and now he is a household name who has played in the Pro Bowl.
Next: Buffalo Bills: 2016 Draft Linebacker Options Part I
In your opinion, did Tyrod Taylor deserve to be selected as the most surprising player in the NFL? Were there any other players who surprised you that we forgot about?