Bills quarterback Josh Allen celebrated his 28th birthday on Tuesday by slinging passes to supporting cast members and introducing himself to new wide receivers.
Buffalo enters the seventh season with Allen under center with a number of changes in the program, specifically the wide receiver depth chart. Gabe Davis left in free agency and Stefon Diggs was traded to the Houston Texans.
Allen has passed for 22,703 yards with 167 touchdowns in his career while embracing becoming the face of the franchise. When the Bills flipped a considerable portion of the roster in the offseason — in part due to Allen’s market-aligned pay consuming 22.4 percent of the salary cap — head coach Sean McDermott challenged Allen to dig further into a leadership role.
“Tremendously impressed, proud,” McDermott said of Allen’s growth. “The type of person he is. The type of character he possesses. The things that he is — like most franchise quarterbacks probably — has to do, beyond the field. And how he handles those things, to me, that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Signed as a free agent after winning two Super Bowls with the Chiefs, Marquez Valdes-Scantling is still getting to know Allen. But his initial takeaway had nothing to do with Allen’s rocket launcher for a throwing arm.
“Josh is normal,” Valdes-Scantling said. “One of the best quarterbacks in the league might have an ego. But the best thing is, Josh is a normal dude.”
The Bills also added Keon Coleman with the No. 33 pick in the draft, giving Allen a pair of 6-foot-4 targets to help ease the loss of the reliable Diggs. Allen said he can sense Coleman has plenty of tools to work with before he ever takes the field.
“He can move and he can jump,” Allen said.
Allen said the 29-year-old Valdes-Scantling and fellow veteran newcomer Curtis Samuel are very good leaders in the wide receiver room and Coleman has shown the willingness to study and learn.
“It’s a fun process to get to know some of these guys on and off the field. Get to know their body language, where and how to throw the football. That’s the fun part,” Allen said.
