It’s always the right time to gain some intel for the upcoming season of fantasy football. Pro Football Focus explored different questions for each team’s quarterback situation across the NFL and there’s plenty to consider for the Bills.
For Buffalo, PFF examined whether the inclusion of wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the team’s receiving corps can help quarterback Josh Allen reach “new heights” in his games.
Even with all of the knocks on Allen (accuracy, deep-ball accuracy, decision-making), it’s looking good for the Bills quarterback from a fantasy football perspective. But Allen’s advanced numbers were not stellar last year. He was 32nd (out of 35 qualified passers) in deep yards per attempt, 32nd in deep catchable rate, and 28th in deep QB rating.
PFF highlights that on their breakdown:
Allen was one of the league’s single-worst QBs when asked to throw deep in 2019. Obviously, Buffalo’s young signal-caller has the arm strength to make pretty much any throw, but consistently carving up defenses on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield was a major struggle throughout his second season.
The deep ball is to Allen what the three-point shot is to Russell Westbrook: a useful skill that they don’t possess yet insist on attempting at a high volume anyway.
PFF is not too flattering when addressing Allen, but did recognize the value that better receivers, John Brown and Cole Beasley, had on the quarterback last season. The analytics adds “it’s going to take a lot for Diggs to take Allen from a brutal to even average deep-ball passer.” Ouch.
But there’s still reason optimism, and that’s as expectedly come from Allen’s ability to run the ball:
With that said, Allen is still plenty worthy of his QB1 fantasy hype. He joined Jackson as the only QBs with at least 100 rush attempts in 2019. Allen is tied for eighth among all players with 17 rushing touchdowns since entering the league. You don’t have to think Allen is a good real-life QB, but 2019’s fantasy QB6 is again more than capable of putting up 18 fantasy points per week.
At 18 points per week? That’s something to accept as a fantasy football manager.
Even with the criticisms, Allen is listed as QB6 by PFF, only behind Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, Dashaun Watson, and Kyler Murray.
There’s something to think about when planning your draft boards over the next few weeks.
[lawrence-related id=65461,65377,65319,65275]