Josh Allen Willing To Structure Extension To Help Bills Remain Competitive

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said on Sunday’s “SportsCenter” that Bills QB Josh Allen is willing to structure his next contract in a way that would help Buffalo “a little bit” in terms of remaining competitive in the coming years.

Although, Fowler mentioned that Allen isn’t going to take a “discount.” 

“As was told to me, look, he knows he’s going to get paid eventually, the Bills know he’s going to get paid eventually, so neither side is particularly worried about it. I’m told that Allen loves being in Buffalo enough where he’s willing to structure things, ya know, that helps the team a little bit. Certainly, he’s not going to take a discount by any stretch—he’s a top-five quarterback. But he wants them to stay competitive in future years with him in the fold,” Fowler said, via Bleacher Report. 

Allen will end up being one of the highest-paid quarterbacks when all is said and done. 

It will be interesting to see how the two parties go about this negotiation and what kind of structure they settle on in the end. One option for the Bills and Allen would be to consider a similar type of contract to the one signed by Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes agreed to a 10-year, $450 million extension last year that included $63.0819 million fully guaranteed at signing and $141 million is guaranteed for injury. In total, Mahomes’ contract can have $477.631 million guaranteed based on his roster status as there are significant roster bonuses to be paid out starting next year. 

This gives Kansas City some options in terms of creating cap space to remain competitive over the next decade.

Allen, 25, is a former first-round selection of the Buffalo Bills. He was entering the final year of a four-year, $21.183 million rookie contract in 2018 that included a $13.485 million signing bonus when the Bills picked up his fifth-year option lats month. 

The fifth-year option will cost the Bills $23.106 million fully guaranteed for the 2022 season. However, it won’t prevent them from agreeing to a long-term extension over the next year or so. 

In 2020, Allen started all 16 games, completing 69.2% of his passes for 4,544 yards, 37 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He also rushed 102 times for 421 yards (4.1 YPC) and eight additional touchdowns.

We’ll have more regarding Allen as the news is available.