Report: Bills' Taylor dealing with 'severe' groin injury

The Buffalo Bills' plans to sit Tyrod Taylor as a means of avoiding injury guarantees in his contract may have come a few weeks too late.

Taylor has been fighting through a "severe" groin injury for the past month, and the issue may need further attention in the offseason, according to Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News.

Taylor will travel to see a specialist in the near future to determine if groin/hernia surgery is required, Carucci added.

Buffalo built an opt-out of sorts into Taylor's contract extension last offseason, effectively providing the club with the ability to part ways with little penalty before $30.75 million becomes guaranteed in March.

Doing so is only possible in the event that he's healthy at that time. Any sort of significant injury carrying over into the offseason would put the chances of such a scenario in jeopardy.

Taylor denied rumors of a groin injury last month, but Carucci's report appears to indicate a possibility that he was merely downplaying the ailment as the Bills looked to chase down a playoff spot.

Management's intention to have him sit out Sunday's regular-season finale hinted that the Bills would consider going in a different direction at the quarterback position under their new head coach.

It's unclear whether an injury to Taylor and the resultant potential for a significant financial commitment could change those plans heading into 2017.

Taylor started started each of the first 15 regular-season games in his second year with the Bills, completing 61.7 percent of his passes for 3,023 yards, 17 touchdowns, and six interceptions.