Is the Josh Allen deal good for the Bills?
The Buffalo Bills just gave quarterback Josh Allen a historic contract extension. Now, with the six-year, $330 million deal with $250 million guaranteed, Allen is locked up in Western New York until 2030.
So, the question becomes, is this a good deal for the Bills?
Did the franchise just lock up its most important player on a team-friendly deal? Or did an organization with an ever-tightening salary cap just make it that much harder to put together a Super Bowl-caliber roster?
We’ll answer these questions and more as we grade Josh Allen's $330 million contract extension with Bills.
Josh Allen inks historic contract extension
Going into his MVP 2024 season, Allen was the 14th-highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. Dak Prescott, Joe Burrow, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, Deshaun Watson, Kirk Cousins, and Patrick Mahomes were all ahead of him.
It makes sense that two-time MVP Jackson or three-time Super Bowl champ Mahomes were ahead of Allen, but the fact that names like Tagovailoa, Murray, and Watson were getting paid more than Allen was a slap in the face.
Despite that, every time someone asked Allen about his middle-of-the-road contract, he would say the exact right thing. His response after every massive new QB contract was always some variation of, happy for the player, my day will come.
Well, Allen’s day came Sunday when the Bills ripped up the final four years left on his current deal and gave him a new one that included the most guaranteed money in NFL history. His $250 million guaranteed surpasses Watson’s $230 million and Prescott’s $231 million guaranteed.
Every new star QB contract in the NFL has to make history in some way. That’s just the way it goes these days. Whether it’s the guarantees, the annual average value, or the overall reported number, if the contract announcement doesn’t have “… in NFL history” at the end of it, the agent didn’t do his or her job.
So, the Josh Allen contract extension checks that box, and the way the Bills checked that box is smart. Making the guaranteed money the thing here means that the team’s owners, Terry and Kim Pegula, have to put that money in escrow now, guaranteeing it is there to be paid out over the length of the contract.
For some cash-poorer franchises, this is an issue, so they have to make their QB deal historic in some other way. For the Pegula’s, who have Texas oil money, popping a cool $250 mil in an account is no big deal.
What this ultimately does is make the contract team-friendly in other aspects, specifically ones that help with salary cap concerns.
In terms of cap hit, Allen’s is behind Mahomes, Prescott, Stafford, and Burrow, while his annual average value percentage of the cap is at 19.7%, per Spotrac, which ranks 13th in the league, behind all those players mentioned at the top, except for Cousins.
And that’s what this deal is all about. With a relatively flat cash structure and the guarantees, this deal effectively gives the Bills QB a $90 million raise over the next six years after his MVP season while also giving general manager Brandon Beane the cap flexibility to keep adding pieces to the team as they continue to chase that elusive Super Bowl.
The Josh Allen extension, given out just a little over two months before his 29th birthday, is the type of deal that makes it look like Allen will spend his whole career with the Bills.
And for a fan base that suffered through Todd Collins, Alex Van Pelt, Doug Flutie, Rob Johnson, Drew Bledsoe, J. P. Losman, Kelly Holcomb, Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Brohm, EJ Manuel, Thad Lewis, Jeff Tuel, Kyle Orton, Tyrod Taylor, Matt Cassel, and Nathan Peterman between Jim Kelly and Allen, having one of (if not) the best quarterback in the NFL is a true gift to Bills Mafia.
In the end, Bills fans would have happily signed up for giving Allen 50, 60, or even 99 percent of the salary cap if it kept him in Western New York for the rest of his career, so this deal accomplishes the goal while also making sense and helping out the team.
For those reasons, there is no other mark to give the Allen contract extension than the highest one possible.
Josh Allen contract extension grade: A+
