Sometimes there’s doubters of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Can he get his passing together? Will he take the next step? Plenty of answers will be found in 2020.
But there’s one group that will take Allen exactly as he is no matter what: The fantasy football folks.
ESPN recently released their fantasy football projections for the 2020 season. Last season, Allen shot up the fantasy football boards as the season progress. Folks realized the Bills QB can find the end zone one way or another. Looking ahead, Allen’s sitting pretty in ESPN’s rankings because of that.
Overall, Allen is ranked the 15th best player in terms of fantasy football in the entire NFL for next season. In terms of quarterbacks, he’s the ninth-best.
Here’s Allen’s fantasy football outlook via ESPN:
Allen is the perfect example of why rushing is so important when it comes to QB fantasy evaluations. The 2018 first-round pick finished as fantasy’s No. 6 QB last season despite ranking 23rd in passing yards, 21st with only 20 passing TDs, third worst in completion percentage (59%) and 11th worst in YPA (6.7). Of course, Allen also produced a 109-510-9 rushing line and has now paced the position in rushing TDs in each of his two NFL seasons (17 total). Allen’s passing troubles remain a red flag, but the addition of Stefon Diggs should help his cause. As long as he keeps running, Allen will be a back-end QB1 option.
Typically we’d look ahead here and see who outranks Allen. There’s Tom Brady (12), DeShaun Watson (4) and Lamar Jackson (1) in terms of QBs ahead of Allen. A good group. What’s even more impressive are the ones Allen beats out.
Players Allen edges out includes Matt Stafford (17), Aaron Rodgers (18) and even Drew Brees (19). Of course we’re not saying Allen’s a better passer than these guys. They’ve thrown a ridiculous amount of yards in their respective NFL careers.
But the biggest knock on Allen is his deep-ball accuracy. If that comes around, could Allen be right near the top with Jackson and Watson in terms of dual-threat QBs of the future? It’s a fun question for Bills fans to ponder.
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