It’s done.
The moment Buffalo Bills fans everywhere have been waiting for came at exactly 1 p.m. Friday. That’s when the team announced star quarterback Josh Allen had signed a massive, six-year contract extension that makes him the highest-paid professional athlete in Buffalo sports history.
It also solidifies his status as the team’s unquestioned franchise quarterback – a designation that’s been sought after since Jim Kelly retired in 1996.
"He's been everything that we thought and then some," General Manager Brandon Beane said Friday evening in a news conference detailing the deal. "It's an exciting moment for him and for our franchise."
Allen, 25, was under contract for two more seasons after the Bills picked up their fifth-year option on his rookie deal in May. His extension, which ESPN reported is worth up to $253 million, includes $150 million in guarantees and $100 million fully guaranteed at signing. The guaranteed totals are the most in NFL history.
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The extension kicks in after his original contract was to expire, meaning he’s under team control through the 2028 season. If Allen plays the contract out, he’ll receive at least $287.9 million from the Bills over the next eight years, taking into account the $3.5 million he’s owed this season and his $23 million salary in 2022.
The average annual value on the extension of $43 million makes him the second-highest paid player in the NFL by that measure, trailing only Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes – the 2018 league MVP and Super Bowl champion. The guarantee at signing surpasses the $95 million given to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and the total guarantee is more than Mahomes' $141.5 million.
According to contracts website spotrac.com, Allen's new deal will increase to $10.2 million for the upcoming season and $16.38 million in 2022. It takes a significant jump after that, with the hope being that the league's salary cap rebounds from the Covid-19 pandemic-related hits it has taken. By stretching the deal out through the 2028 season, Beane structured it in a way to reward Allen now, while also trying to maintain the cap space necessary to field a talented team around him.
"Part of it is we’re committed to Josh, so that shows there’s no trepidation on our part of, 'Oh, let’s just extend it a year or two or anything like that. We believe in Josh," Beane said of the length of the contract. "And part of that was what we wanted to help us. These are big numbers, as you know. And so the number of years allows us to see, 'Hey, this year is going to be a little harder on the cap.' As we add other players or re-sign other players, the biggest piece to build your salary cap around is a franchise quarterback, that’s going to always be. When you know those numbers, you can more easily work around what piece you’re going to add and also it’s going to have some tough decisions and there’s going to be some years where we’re going to have to make a tough call and say, 'Hey, we’re not going to be able to re-sign Player X, we’re going to have to go to the draft or find a cheaper replacement.' "
A more thorough look at what the deal means for the Bills' long-term cap position will come. On Friday, though, Bills fans were content in knowing that the most important position in professional sports is settled here for the foreseeable future.
The ink isn't even dry. 😁@JoshAllenQB | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/yTJSXRibjD
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 6, 2021
Allen earned his massive payday thanks largely to a breakout 2020 season in which he finished as the runner-up to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the league’s MVP voting. Along the way, he set single-season franchise records in just about every meaningful passing category, including: touchdown passes (37), completions (396), completion percentage (69.2), passing yards (4,544), passer rating (107.2), 300-yard games (8) and total touchdowns (46).
Allen, the seventh overall draft pick in 2018, was selected to his first Pro Bowl and was named a second-team All-Pro after leading the Bills to a 13-3 regular season and a spot in the AFC championship game, which ended in a loss to Mahomes' Chiefs.
"We as a team know that what we did last year is not going to carry over to this year," Allen said. "We got to come in here and bust our tail and go out there and try to execute and practice hard because what we do out here on the practice field is gonna apply to the game. Last year, we didn't get the job done, I didn't get the job done. There's a lot of mistakes looking back at that last game that we could have cleaned up, I could have cleaned up, and it’s something that I've been chomping at the bit to get back on the field. I think everybody in this locker room has the same type of mentality."
Allen has made steady improvements since the Bills traded up twice in in the first round of the 2018 draft to select him out of Wyoming. He entered the league as one of the most polarizing draft prospects in recent memory. Analytics website Football Outsiders wrote in its annual season preview that Allen was a "parody of an NFL quarterback prospect." That's not the only time in his career he's been overlooked, either.
Allen did not receive a single Division I college offer despite racking up 5,269 yards and 59 touchdowns over his final two seasons at Firebaugh High School. Allen was just 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds coming out of high school, so he settled for a year of junior college. During his 2014 season at Reedley College, Allen threw for 2,055 yards and 26 touchdowns while also going through a growth spurt that shot him up to 6-5, 215 pounds (he's listed at 237 now).
Allen chose Wyoming over an offer from Eastern Michigan.
"Don’t change a thing," Allen said when asked what he would tell his younger self if given the chance. "Enjoy the ride, enjoy the process. There’s multiple ways to get to a destination. And sometimes they take a little longer, sometimes they’re a little harder. So I wouldn’t go back and change anything about my past, and where I went to junior college, where I went to college. And shout out Reedley and Wyoming, because they also had a huge role in me getting to this point.
"But again, for me, it's not enough just to get to this point. I've got to continue to go out there and prove it every day of why we made the decision to do what we did today."
The biggest criticism of Allen coming out of college centered on his accuracy, and that only intensified after he completed just 52.8% of his passes as a rookie. He improved to 58.8% in 2019, however, before taking a massive leap in his third season and his touchdown passing numbers have been on a similar upward trajectory – from 10 to 20 to 37 a year ago.
"I think it fits Buffalo," head coach Sean McDermott said. "That was part, as you guys have heard Brandon and I talk about, when we went through that vetting process, the scouting process of making sure that we could check that box of the fit with Buffalo and the community. … So people doubt. They don't know, right? That's a lot to me, true about our city here. People say things about Buffalo, but they really don't know. They don't take the time to come find out. I think Josh is changing that and I think we're changing that."
Allen is also a threat with his legs. He is one of just three quarterbacks to ever rush for at least 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns in his first three seasons, joined by Baltimore's Lamar Jackson and Carolina's Cam Newton. Allen has 25 rushing touchdown in his career and is the only quarterback in NFL history to have at least seven rushing touchdowns in each of his first three seasons. Additionally, Allen is the only quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least 4,000 yards and 30-plus touchdowns and have at least eight rushing touchdowns in a single season, which he accomplished in 2020.
The contract extension comes just days after Beane said the team would table negotiations if a deal was not in place before the start of the regular season. Allen said at the start of training camp last week that we was not concerned about a deal getting done and that it would not be a distraction in his preparation.
Nevertheless, it seemed as though a deal between the two sides felt like a matter of when, not if. Allen has previously stated his goal is to play out his entire career in Buffalo. He's embraced the role of being the starting quarterback of the Bills and connected with the fan base in a way just a few select players have since the franchise's glory days. There was risk on Allen's side in waiting to sign an extension that would provide him immediate generational wealth given the violent nature of the sport he plays.
Similarly, the Bills didn't want to wait any longer, because if Allen improves on his 2021 numbers, the price tag for the quarterback only figured to go up.
"I’m at peace with everything going on in my life right now," Allen said. "This is before, obviously, the contract. I’m just in such a good space because of the environment that I’ve been surrounded by. It’s a really cool feeling to be here in Buffalo and be surrounded by the right organization, the right players, the right teammates and I love coming into work every day. Again, I just can’t not say how much of a blessing it is to be in the position I’m in right now. Now all I want to do is go play football.”
With Allen at the helm, the Bills fielded a high-powered offense in 2020 that resembled the K-Gun glory days. Buffalo finished second in both yards (396.4) and points (31.3) per game. Beane deserves credit for surrounding Allen with one of the NFL's best wide receiver rooms. That started in 2019 with the addition of Cole Beasley and John Brown in free agency, and continued last year with the trade for Stefon Diggs and the selection of Gabriel Davis in the draft. Diggs and Allen developed immediate chemistry, leading to a monster first season in Buffalo for the receiver during which he led the NFL in both catches (127) and yards (1,535).
Allen has also enjoyed a remarkable amount of stability in the coaching ranks, having been with head coach Sean McDermott, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll throughout his professional career and quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey over the last two seasons.
"You don't usually get the same head coach, and the same defensive and offensive coordinators for three years, especially when you have success," Allen said. "Usually one of them, or both of them, are gone, and they're taking head coaching jobs somewhere … but they've been fantastic for us. Just the leadership that they bring to their respective units and the relationships that they can carry with their coach or with their players, it's rare to see. So we're fortunate enough to have them here, and like I said, we got to go out and get this thing done. We're gonna put all our all of our efforts toward that goal."
The quarterback received a call about 3:45 a.m. Friday to report that a deal was in the finishing stages. Allen practiced before signing his extension.
"Usually nothing usually good happens after midnight, right?" he joked. "That's the saying. But that call was pretty cool."
That Allen not only practiced Friday, but looked good doing it was just one example of why the Bills felt comfortable in making such a massive commitment.
"That's how he's wired," McDermott said. "And that's what gives us, I guess, as much assurance as you could get from an organizational standpoint on what we're going to see going forward. So, yeah, I was trying to make sure we had a quick whistle back there if we needed a quick whistle. I think it's one of the first times I've ever taken my cellphone out to practice. I was texting Brandon before, 'Hey, is this going to get done, where we at?' Because obviously there is concern health-wise. We respect that and would always want to protect Josh in that case."
Allen was the third of five quarterbacks to be drafted in the first round as part of the celebrated 2018 class, but becomes the first to sign an extension. Jackson and Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield could be in line next. Beane said there was no urgency on his part to strike a deal before those quarterbacks potentially drove up the price.
“I didn't really worry about those guys," he said. "I mean, there's various ways to do it, various structures. I knew even last year Josh and I had an off-the-cuff conversation about doing a deal and him wanting to make sure he could do a deal that took care of him and his family, but that we could still win around here. So I took all that into consideration as we structured this thing. I really wasn't worried about other deals, whether they happened or not. It was about getting the right deal for Josh and the right deal for the Buffalo Bills. And I believe that's what happened.”
