Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is the NFL's Most Valuable Player, but he still has his fair share of haters.
That being said, Allen has proven his critics wrong every step of the way.
Bleacher Report writer David Kenyon recognized Allen as one of seven disparaged athletes that have "beaten the slander."
"In two seasons as QB1 at Wyoming, Allen completed just 56.0 and 56.3 percent of his passes. The history of the NFL didn't look fondly on players who never hit 60-plus percent in college. Allen's tendency to bail out of the pocket and propensity for highlight-reel risks made his scouting reports full of unnerving notes," Kenyon writes.
"Allen had a challenging start to his NFL career, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns as a rookie and still not reaching 60-plus percent completions in his first two years.
"But he flipped a heckuva switch in 2020.
"Allen's completion rate skyrocketed to 69.2 percent with dramatic gains in per-pass average. He's maintained that efficiency for a half-decade, turned the Buffalo Bills—the five-time reigning AFC East champion—into an annual contender and recently won his first MVP after notching three previous top-five finishes."
The other NFL athletes on the list are Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson, who beat out Allen for the 2023 NFL MVP award, Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and retired Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
Allen will continue to be slandered throughout his career, but if the first seven years have proven anything, it's that it won't faze him much, if at all.
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