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Quarterback headlines in the AFC East have had very little to do with the Bills’ Josh Allen as of late. Allen is old news now.
That’s because the 2021 NFL draft has come and passed and each of Buffalo’s divisional foes made moves relating to the position.
The Patriots and Jets drafted QBs in Round 1 last week via Mac Jones and Zack Wilson, respectively. It’s still going to be Tua Tagovailoa for the Dolphins next year, but there’s no Ryan Fitzpatrick in town to be that “reliver in the bullpen” type of backup in case Tagovailoa struggles. In addition, the Dolphins just added some playmakers for him at the draft as well.
Despite all that talk going on, ESPN analysts and football fans alike are still sticking with Allen in one sense.
On Tuesday during the former world-wide leader’s morning talk show program, Get Up, a roundtable discussion took up the topic of projecting forward. In five years from now, who would be the AFC East’s best signal caller? Overwhelming the pick was Allen.
Among the analysts, two of the three picked Allen as their answer. Former first-round pick and Georgia product, David Pollack, cited Allen’s size and physical stature as his reasoning for the Bills quarterback being his pick:
“You worry about their durability, I don’t worry about that with Josh Allen at all.”
Marcus Spears, another former first rounder and LSU product, also chose Allen. However, he mentioned Allen’s big improvements in 2020, which nearly landed him the MVP Award.
“I would to have loved to pick another one of these guys, but as much as people talk about Josh Allen’s athleticism, he’s a hell of a thrower of the football, man. The velocity, the ball placement, his ability to improv… I’m just talking purely from a quarterback standpoint. The leaps and bounds he made, with Brian Daboll, with throwing the football.
“If that continues, which I believe it will because you learn and figure out I can play in this league at a very high level, he’ll carry the torch.”
Former NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum disagreed, though. He picked Wilson, the Jets’ No. 2 overall pick. Tannenbaum was also previously employed by the Jets, so who knows how much that factored in.
Potentially making up for Tannenbaum were the fans. The show also ran a poll on Twitter on Tuesday. Allen was overwhelming their pick:
Five years from now, who will be the best QB in the AFC East? @GetUpESPN #Greeny
— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) May 4, 2021
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