ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Sure, both sides were going to be patient and focus on the immediacy of preparing for the season rather than tending to the business of hammering out a long-term contract extension.
Cut off the negotiations if something isn’t done by the start of the regular season? Sure.
No distraction if it fails to happen now? Sure.
Oh, it was a commendable effort by Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, but in the end, you knew there was far more urgency to the negotiations than the quarterback or General Manager Brandon Beane were letting on in public.
History-making transactions that set the course of a franchise for years to come don’t wait. Once that ball gets rolling, it isn’t going to stop until pen meets paper. As ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported, Allen received a phone call somewhere around 3 or 4 in the morning Friday informing him an agreement was near. It’s fair to say someone was burning the proverbial midnight oil.
And the fact is, only a little more than a week of training camp practices went by before Friday’s announcement that the Bills had signed Allen to a six-year deal. According to ESPN, it’s worth up to $253 million, including $150 million in guarantees and $100 million fully guaranteed at signing.
No professional athlete in Buffalo history has been paid more and no NFL player has received more guaranteed money.
It was the smartest way to go for Allen and the Bills.
Now, Allen doesn’t have to set foot on the field for a preseason or regular-season game with any anxiety over the chance he could be injured and jeopardize his massive payday.
Now, the Bills don’t have to worry that whatever price they would pay for Allen this year doesn’t climb even higher into the stratosphere next year because he plays at least as well as he did in 2020.
The Bills have known what they had in Allen since making him the seventh overall pick of the 2018 draft. Despite some rookie shakiness, there were basic elements to his game, physically and mentally, that were easily identified for improvement. Allen just needed to put in the work, and he did.
He took noticeable steps in 2019 and made a huge leap in 2020, when he led an offense that ranked second in the NFL in total points and yards, and finished second in MVP voting.
That was enough to convince the team, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it finally had its first franchise quarterback since Jim Kelly.
That also was enough to establish Allen’s place at the top of his quarterback draft class and eliminate the concern of him signing something that would soon become outdated.
Though it’s possible his contract will be leap-frogged by the extension to which the Baltimore Ravens eventually sign Lamar Jackson or the Cleveland Browns eventually sign Baker Mayfield, it seems unlikely.
Allen’s salary sets a point of reference for the other QBs, but it’s hard to envision either doing better. At least, not in the near future.