Despite both being drafted into the AFC East, quarterbacks Josh Allen and Sam Darnold, of the Bills and Jets, respectively, have continued to build a friendship with each other… Even if their fans will often make stern comparisons of the two signal callers.
That’s typical of what happens with two players are drafted in the same year, which both were in 2018. Darnold No. 3 to the Jets, Allen No. 7 to the Bills.
While Allen’s had the better overall team success in their careers, those are still a couple of young guys, so the jury is still out on both. But in that same mindset, Allen said via SiriusXM NFL that he and the Jets QB have, and continue to, put an emphasis on helping a friend out, when possible, first and foremost.
“Watching him throw and throwing with him has been awesome,” Allen said. “We’ve been able to rely on each other. …Just kind of lean on each other I guess and just throughout the year.”
“[I’ve taken] some things from his mechanics and tried to apply them to my game and vice versa,” Allen added. “Just kind of picking each other’s brains as far as defenses and types of concepts that we’re running. We don’t get too deep. So I don’t know if my coaches [are listening]. But we don’t get too deep, but it’s fun to kind of talk to somebody who’s kind of going through the same thing.”
Allen and Darnold both also workout together during the offseason and have done so since before the 2018 NFL Draft. The middleman there is quarterback coach Jordan Palmer, who works with a slew of young QBs as their offseason coach, even recent No.1 overall pick, Bengals quarterback Joe Joe Burrow. Palmer was part of the interview as well as one of the hosts.
In the past, Darnold’s also talked about his friendship with Allen and said similar thing. Except twice a year, things apparently change. During game week the two… wait until Sunday after the game to start chatting again.
“It’s fun to joke about it in the offseason and then now that it’s here, we’re not talking at all. It’s go time,” Darnold told New York reporters last September. “Obviously, I’m going to talk to him after the game and all that, but we’re both competitive so, it’s going to be fun to go up against him this second go-around.”
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