Since the decade’s start, Josh Allen has established himself as one of the NFL’s faces. But if the two-time Pro Bowler is going to keep the Bills in the Super Bowl picture, he’ll probably have to start changing his play style.
In what feels like an annual conversation with Allen at this point, the 26-year-old superstar finally saw the forest for the trees with his aggressiveness and occasional recklessness.
On Tuesday, as the Bills kicked off the first portion of their offseason activities, Allen spoke to a gathered media contingent about his plans for Buffalo’s 2023 campaign. The conversation eventually shifted to how Allen must refine his plays. He can be better even if it has turned the Bills into a contender in recent years. He probably has to be better.
And he has to be a lot more careful with his health. That means deciding against trucking every single defender Allen meets in the open field.
“I’ve always had the mindset of, I’ve been a football player first and a quarterback second,” Allen said. “At some point that is going to have to switch. When that point is, I don’t know. I guess I’ll let my body tell me.
In the general NFL lexicon, Allen has developed a reputation for his physicality. Not many players of his listed 6-foot-5, 237-pound stature possess his athletic gifts in the form of a rocket arm and dynamite legs. Allen has created a combined 129 touchdowns on the ground and through the air since 2020. This mentality has made the Bills so dangerous and revitalized the franchise with four playoff wins in that same span.
But someone with Allen’s unique gifts doesn’t have to put himself out there all the time.
He can save his very best for when the moment really calls for it in January and, ideally, for the Bills, even February. The man with 69 combined turnovers (interceptions and fumbles) in the last three years doesn’t have to go for the home-run ball all the time. He can take the necessary check-down. And he can and probably should learn to conserve himself rather than take unnecessary punishment in September.
Because part of the reason the Bills fell short of their Super Bowl goals last winter was that they asked Allen to do far too much. Taking responsibility off Allen’s plate for improved support wouldn’t be the worst idea.
“It sounds crazy, but I’m getting older,” Allen expressed further. “I know I can’t continue to do this. I know when I’m using my youth, I feel like I can, but over the course of my career I’m going to have to learn to adapt and change.”
The Bills are in a delicate place in their championship window with Allen. The 2023 season will mark the first year of Allen’s monstrous $258 million ($100 million guaranteed) contract extension from 2021. It will also mark the year his No. 1 receiver in Stefon Diggs turns 30 as the terms of his own lucrative extension signed in 2022 eventually kick in.
The Bills are in a great place and will likely always be a championship factor as long as Allen is in top form. But how long this new golden era in Buffalo lasts will likely be determined by how judicious their talisman signal-caller is moving forward.