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The Pro Football Focus tune on Bills quarterback Josh Allen took a drastic turn in 2020. But let’s not just single out the football analytics outlet for that… many changed their mind on him this past season.
After a sluggish first two campaigns in the NFL, Allen’s play took a drastic turn for the better. He barely tossed over 3,000 yards in 2019, this season saw Allen finish fifth in the NFL in passing yards with 4,544.
In addition, Allen had 37 touchdowns in the air to 10 interceptions. On the ground, Allen had another eight scores.
All things considered, PFF couldn’t help but name Allen a top-five QB in the NFL in 2020, as the outlet pegged him at No. 5 in their final overall rankings with a grade of 90.9. Here’s how PFF broke that down:
Allen was the most improved quarterback this season, finishing with the third-highest percentage of positively graded throws while cutting his negatives by 4.8 percentage points from last year, second-best in the league. The big step came in the downfield passing game, where Allen went from a 40.2 PFF passing grade in 2019 to a 93.4 mark this season, good for sixth in the league.
For context on how much PFF shifted on Allen this season, their end of 2019 QB rankings saw him land at No. 26 overall, just ahead of the Bears’ Mitchell Trubisky and behind others like the Giants’ Daniel Jones (24) and Cowboys’ Andy Dalton (23).
Adding a little bit of a sweet nugget: Allen also ranked as the top quarterback from the 2018 NFL Draft’s first round this past year. The three other QBs slotted in at:
- 13. Baker Mayfield | Cleveland Browns: 81.6
- 14. Lamar Jackson | Baltimore Ravens: 81.5
- 33. Sam Darnold | New York Jets: 58.4
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