Tyrod Taylor is headed to back up another young quarterback.
The veteran is expected to sign a two-year deal with the New York Giants, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday. The agreement is worth $11 million with incentives to increase the total to $17 million, per Rapoport.
Taylor has spent the past four seasons bouncing between starting and backup roles with three different teams, beginning 2018, 2020 and 2021 as a starting quarterback before a variety of circumstances have relegated him to backup duties. In Cleveland, a concussion forced him out of a game and allowed Baker Mayfield to take over for good. In Los Angeles, Taylor served as Philip Rivers' backup before taking over as the starter entering 2020, but that lasted just one game. An accidental punctured lung caused by a pregame injection administered by a trainer allowed Justin Herbert a chance to play and prove he was the better option. And in Houston, former coach David Culley decided to use the remainder of an otherwise lost season to test rookie Davis Mills.
In New York, Taylor will arrive as a backup to Daniel Jones, who is entering another season that will be vitally important to his future. Jones was under constant duress in 2021 and was tasked with operating a dysfunctional offense that was only worsened by the losses of Kadarius Toney, Sterling Shepard and Kenny Golladay to injury. Jones is now approaching his first season under new coach Brian Daboll, which very well could be Jones' last in New York if he doesn't perform well enough to earn the approval of Giants brass. And if Jones is again forced out of action by injury -- he's never played a full season in his career, which began on the bench in 2019 -- Taylor will be there to step in with experience necessary to adequately fulfill the duties of quarterback.
Taylor hasn't seen consistent starting reps over a full season since his days in Buffalo, which ended with his trade to Cleveland in 2018. He started just three games with the Browns before Mayfield took over in that season and left for Los Angeles in the following offseason.
He'll be well-prepared to step in for Jones if called upon. If anything, the signing demonstrates one notable change with the new regime in New York: Daboll won't accept turning to a low-level backup and struggling accordingly if Jones isn't able to go.
