Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Matt Cassel started the 2014 season as the Minnesota Vikings‘ starting quarterback, but a foot injury in Week 3 ended his season and Teddy Bridgewater took over. There was a chance the Vikings would keep him around as their No. 2 quarterback this year, even with a slightly elevated salary, but Cassel was traded to the Buffalo Bills in March and immediately became the front runner to start Week 1 for his new team.
The Bills will carry three other quarterbacks into training camp, with 2013 first-round pick EJ Manuel and offseason signing Tyrod Taylor joining Cassel in the competition for the starting job. Matt Simms was claimed off waivers from the New York Jets in late May, but he looks certain to be used strictly in camp and preseason games with little chance to make the final 53-man roster.
Cassel, Manuel and Taylor reportedly got equal practice reps during OTAs, which means a prolonged training camp battle is likely coming unless one guy surprises and clearly stands out early on.
Mike Rodak of ESPN.com suggested, at the end of minicamp a few days ago, that Cassel has looked so bad during offseason work that he could be on the roster bubble entering training camp next month. That seems a bit far-fetched on the surface, but the Bills only gave up two late-round draft picks (2015 fifth-round and 2016 seventh-round) to acquire Cassel and they can take his $4.15 million base salary for this year completely off their books by cutting him before the start of the regular season.
If Cassel continues to look especially bad during training camp, and the Bills do ultimately decide to release him, he still shouldn’t have much trouble finding a new team fairly quickly before Week 1. But being clearly beat out by Manuel (or Taylor) is not a good look for any NFL quarterback right now, and Cassel will probably never get another opportunity to earn a starting job if he can’t step up and take the reigns in Buffalo.
Brad Berreman is a Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.
