Buffalo Bills pick up the fifth-year option for quarterback Josh Allen

While it was assumed it was a foregone conclusion, the Buffalo Bills officially announced that they have picked up the fifth-year option on quarterback Josh Allen. This will keep Allen in Buffalo through the 2022 season however, the hope is that he is with the organization much longer than that.

Allen was the seventh overall pick by the Buffalo Bills in the 2018 NFL Draft. At the time he was a pretty polarizing prospect as he was viewed as a player with incredible physical abilities but had some questions about his accuracy. He would end up being the third quarterback taken in that year’s class, after Baker Mayfield who was picked first overall by the Cleveland Browns and Sam Darnold who was selected two picks later by the New York Jets.

Allen would actually start his rookie season as the team’s backup quarterback behind Nathan Peterman. However, that lasted about two quarters as Peterman was benched at halftime in Week 1 and Allen would be named the starter before the Bills’ next game.

One of the reasons that this was such an easy decision for the Buffalo Bills is that Josh Allen has improved year over year to the point where this past season he was the runner-up for the MVP award.

In 2020, he improved his completion percentage over 10 points from the prior year to 69.2% while throwing for 4,544 passing yards, 37 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions. He also continued to contribute on the ground with 421 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. Josh Allen for the third straight year had eight or more rushing touchdowns.

In addition to being runner up for the MVP, he was named to the Pro Bowl this past season as well as being named AFC Offensive Player of the Week four times, which was a franchise record for most in a season.