GREEN BAY – Jason Vrable was a young assistant on the Buffalo Bills' coaching staff when Tyrod Taylor was brought in to compete for the team's starting quarterback job in March 2015.
It wouldn't be easy. Taylor was going up against rookie first-round pick E.J. Manuel and veteran Matt Cassel, whom the Bills acquired from Minnesota the day after signing Taylor.
Determined to prove his worth after sitting behind Joe Flacco for four seasons in Baltimore, Taylor was one of the first in the building every day.
Vrable, who served as the Bills' assistant quarterbacks coach in 2016, can't remember a time Taylor walked in past 6 a.m. local.
"He's a worker," said Vrable, who's now in his sixth season as the Packers' passing game coordinator. "If you're talking about first-one-in-and-last-one-out, and truly working, that was him."
That work ethic won Taylor the Bills' starting job, a position he held for three seasons, and it's kept him in the NFL ever since.
Now entering Year 16, Taylor is set to reunite with Vrable in Green Bay after the Packers signed the 36-year-old veteran last week to back up franchise quarterback Jordan Love.
Taylor's journey from a 2011 sixth-round pick out of Virginia Tech to one of the NFL's longest-tenured players is an underrated story in football's modern era.
There were 179 players drafted ahead of Taylor that year. Only two – defensive tackle Cameron Heyward and quarterback Andy Dalton – are currently signed to a team. Former top pick Cam Newton, J.J. Watt and Julio Jones have all long since retired.
Yet, Taylor presses on, as the only quarterback in league history with 10,000-plus passing yards, 2,000-plus rushing yards, 70-plus passing TDs, 20-plus rushing TDs and fewer than 35 interceptions.
Taylor has played in 100 regular-season games for seven different NFL franchises with 62 starts, valuable experience he now brings with him to Green Bay.
"The cool part when he walked in the room, you could feel the presence, the confidence, the composure," quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy said. "He's seen a lot. He's been in a lot of different systems. … As far as the juice, he's definitely still got that."
It's been a long time since the Packers had a backup quarterback on their roster with Taylor's years of NFL service. Since Todd Bouman replaced an injured Aaron Rodgers behind Brett Favre in 2006, Green Bay has carried just one backup QB older than 30 on its active roster.
That came in 2013 when general manager Ted Thompson signed 33-year-old Seneca Wallace, who had been out of football the previous season, after the No. 2 competition between Graham Harrell and B.J. Coleman fizzled during training camp.
Green Bay has had a more solidified backup plan in recent years, beginning with Thompson's successor, Brian Gutekunst, trading up in the first round to draft and develop Love behind Rodgers in 2020.
In need of a backup to Love four years later, Gutekunst acquired Malik Willis from Tennessee for a seventh-round pick. Willis was nothing short of sensational in relief of Love the past two seasons, fashioning a 134.6 passer rating in 11 appearances to earn a starting opportunity with Miami this offseason.
Willis' departure brings football life full circle for Taylor, who will now second Love after backing up Rodgers with the New York Jets in 2024.
"I think he's going to be a great value for him," said Getsy of Taylor joining Love in the Packers' quarterback room. "Now we get Tyrod, who's been through a lot – 16 years of this league and being around a bunch of different styles of quarterbacks that he was playing with, too. I think all of that is going to be really cool and something that Jordan will be able to lean on."
Beyond assisting Love, Taylor will aid the development of the Packers' third-string quarterback, a battle that'll be contested between fellow Hokie Kyron Drones and former Philadelphia sixth-round pick Kyle McCord.
Drones signed with Green Bay as an undrafted rookie last month. The 6-foot-2, 226-pound quarterback started three seasons at Virginia Tech, throwing for 5,566 yards, rushing for another 1,847 and scoring 64 TDs (44 passing, 20 rushing).
Drones, who took a pre-draft visit to Green Bay, is fully aware of the Packers' track record for developing quarterbacks.
"When I met the coaches on my visit out here, it was all good vibes," Drones said. "Great quarterbacks – Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers – it's a lot to live up to and get to where they were. Just a winning organization, that's what we're trying to do here."
Taylor has already made it known he's not just here to help the quarterbacks. While introducing himself to the team last week, Taylor told every player in the room his door is always open.
That's the same Tyrod Taylor that Vrable fondly remembers in Buffalo a decade ago.
"He's a great leader of men," Vrable said. "He kind of talked to our team for a little bit and said, 'I'll be here to help out anybody. I've been through a lot in this league, and whatever anybody needs from any position group, (I'm here) if you guys want to come and talk to me, bounce ideas off.'"
