GettyBills quarterback Josh Allen at Soldier Field on August 26, 2023.
With quarterback Josh Allen at the helm, the Buffalo Bills always remain contenders. However, Bills general manager Brandon Beane believes Allen could’ve been more successful early on if it wasn’t for his “stupid” mistake.
During an appearance on “The Athletic Football Show,” analyst Robert Mays asked Beane if he could do one thing differently over his past seven years in Buffalo. Beane said his biggest regret was what he didn’t do after drafting Allen with the No. 7 overall pick in 2018.
“One of the first lessons I learned that I screwed up was when, ya know for those teams drafting a rookie quarterback, I didn’t have someone here with the right experience, a veteran for Josh to lean on,” Beane said.
“Early on Josh was kinda struggling a bit and going through his thing and I realized it and it was stupid of me not to have done it — but I got Derek Anderson in here around week 5 or 6. And I should’ve had that before.”
“I knew D.A,” Beane continued. “He did such great things for Cam [Newton]… We were looking at some young guys to give them a chance. But really, we put all our assets into Josh Allen. I got too cute. That was the first big ‘you dumbass’ I said to myself.”
Allen earned the starting job over Nathan Peterman in Week 2 of the 2018 NFL season. In 12 games and 11 starts, the Wyoming alum completed 169-of-320 passes for 2,074 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.
“I think it would’ve helped Josh more his rookie year,” Beane lamented. “It was my dumb error early on.”
Bills OC Joe Brady Declared, ‘This Is Josh Allen’s Offense’
While there’s a lot of turnover in the receivers room this year, most notably the departure of Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady isn’t too worried. Why? Because they have the dual-threat superstar that is Allen.
“At the end of the day, this is Josh Allen’s offense,” Brady told reporters on Tuesday, May 28. “It’s a quarterback-driven league… we’re fortunate that we still have him, and the offense will still run through him. We’ll have to adjust, and we’ll have to get a feel of how teams are playing us. We’re a few days in but we’re excited about the group that we have.”
Brady is still assessing the new talent and figuring out what they do best. The offense, however, will ultimately be tailored around Allen’s talent.
“If there’s things that I feel like, from the learning standpoint, that would be easier for the guys to maybe learn, then we’d look at that. But other than that, if it’s something that was going to slow 17 down, [we’re] not changing that,” he said.
Bills News: Buffalo Plans to Utilize a Committee of Wide Receivers Around QB Josh Allen
One of the biggest offseason questions is which player is going to replace Diggs to become Allen’s No. 1 target. The Bills’ top receivers include Keon Coleman, Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins, and Khalil Shakir. Buffalo also signed Chase Claypool and former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Following his breakout rookie season, tight end Dalton Kincaid is predicted to receive a lot of targets in 2024. While Beane alluded to a committee approach shortly after trading Diggs, Brady doubled down on it on Tuesday.
“In this offense, everyone is going to eat,” he said.
“You don’t just sit there and just say you’re gonna replace a player or replace a scheme or targets,” Brady added. “Every year is gonna be different, and to me, the biggest thing is just as you’re going into is, ‘All right, hey, what do these wide receivers do well? And let’s find ways to put them in those positions.’”
