PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Rex Ryan has maintained that it's still a three-way race, but how the Buffalo Bills have divided reps in practice over the past week and in last Friday's preseason game suggest that Matt Cassel and Tyrod Taylor have pulled ahead of EJ Manuel in the quarterback competition.

Speaking to the Associated Press' John Wawrow on Monday, Manuel was still confident in his abilities but acknowledged that if he achieves NFL success, it might not come in Buffalo.

"At the end of the day, if I play well, it should take care of itself," Manuel said. "Whether it's here or whether it's somewhere else, I don't know."

The third-year quarterback then said he has yet to consider playing elsewhere.

"I haven't. I don't know how that works," he said. "But I also understand the business of it. I don't know. All I can do right now is continue to play well."

Manuel spent most of last week's practices with the third team offense and ran that group in the second half of Friday's preseason-opening loss to the Carolina Panthers. He threw a 51-yard touchdown in that game and generally performed better than he did in training camp practices to that point.

However, Manuel remained with the third team in Sunday's practice and ran the second-team offense in Monday's joint practice with the Browns, with Cassel and Taylor splitting time with the first team.

Taylor will start Thursday's preseason game and will be replaced by Cassel, after Cassel started last Friday's game and was replaced by Taylor.

The rotation would suggest that Manuel has a shot to start the third preseason game -- typically considered the most important -- against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But Ryan has resisted giving any indication about who will start that game and noted that Manuel already "started" the Bills' intrasquad scrimmage earlier in training camp.

There's still time for the situation to change and an injury to either Cassel or Taylor would shake up the picture, but if the season started today, it would be hard to see Manuel in any better spot than No. 3 on the Bills' quarterback depth chart.

Keep in mind that the Bills only carried two quarterbacks last season, and many teams opt not to keep a third player at that position. That could make Manuel a candidate to be released -- or possibly traded -- by early September.

Given Manuel's comment to the AP, that's a possibility that seems to be creeping into his mind.