Bills QB Josh Allen is Just Like Us: 'I Swear The Guy Has Done 200 Mock Drafts'

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen could not help but fall victim to 'Draft Season,' completing '200 mock drafts' in the leadup to the the 2024 NFL Draft, according to team general manager Brandon Beane.

Jul 28, 2021; Orchard Park, NY, United States; Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane has a / Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

The anticipation that builds in the months leading up to the annual NFL Draft can perhaps best be likened to a growing wave, an unstoppable force that envelops all in its path before cascading with an extravagant three-day event that’s attended by hundreds of thousands and viewed remotely by millions. The anticipatory window—known colloquially as ‘Draft Season’—is rich in tape scouring, social media ‘takes,’ and fan-conducted mock drafts. It spares no football fan—or, in this instance, professional quarterback.

Related: Bills First-Round Pick WR Keon Coleman Reaches Out to Bills Hall Of Famer Andre Reed

Not even Buffalo Bills signal-caller Josh Allen can escape the wrath of ‘Draft Season,’ as according to general manager Brandon Beane, he, too, filled the time leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft with mock drafts in which he rounded out the team to his liking. During a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Beane expressed his delight in his quarterback’s eye for talent. The only issue? Allen was selecting players with first-and-second-round grades on day three.

“He doesn’t want to [be a GM], but he does love the process,” Beane told McAfee. “He likes the mock draft. I swear the guy has done 200 mock drafts, and he’ll send me what his final tally of our draft was. ‘Hey Beane, I traded next year’s [second round pick], but with that, I got us these guys.’ And you look at it, and the first four picks are all guys that we have in the top 50 on our board. Like, ‘Josh, this is not reality.’ I love that he loves it. It’s fun.”

Josh Allen is big into Mock Draft Simulators 😂

"200 Mock Drafts"

Brandon Beane on @PatMcAfeeShow pic.twitter.com/67tGsOdHhr

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) April 30, 2024

Though not ready to hand the reins of team-building over to Allen entirely, Beane did consult his franchise centerpiece in this year’s scouting process. Aware that he was likely to select a wide receiver with a high-value draft choice given the offseason departures of Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis (who combined for 1,929 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns last season), Beane lumped Allen into his pass-catcher scouting, asking his quarterback to watch tape of several receivers the team had interest in. Allen gave his stamp of approval to a handful of prospects, among them, Florida State wideout Keon Coleman. Buffalo would ultimately select the Seminole with the 33rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

“We’d be stupid not to hear some of his thoughts on things,” Beane said. “Knowing that we would probably look at receiver in the first few rounds of the draft, we gave him some guys, he sat down with a couple of our coaches. I walked in there one day and we busted balls a little bit about who he liked. ‘Why do you like him? Let’s hear what you know.’ He gave his two cents. He also, I’ll give him credit, he knows that he doesn’t have the complete picture on each player.

“Keon was one of the guys that he definitely did like. He was like, ‘I’d be fired up if that was one of the guys we got.’ He’s from the driving range on Friday morning and he’s like, ‘Hey, what are you thinking?’ I said, ‘I’d like to be where you’re at, but secondly, unless somebody blows us away [with a trade offer], we’re going to take Keon.’ He thought that was cool. He was fired up.”

Nov 18, 2023; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; Florida State Seminoles wide receiver Keon Coleman (4) / Morgan Tencza-USA TODAY Sports

Allen reached out to his new teammate shortly after the ink on the selection card was dry, texting Coleman to express his excitement and extend a neighborly welcome to the City of Good Neighbors.

“He texted me the day of,” Coleman told media members at his introductory press conference last weekend. “Was like, ‘You’re the guy I wanted. I watched a lot of receivers, and I want to play with you.’ I was like, ‘I’ve been saying the same thing.’ I want to go play with the guy that wears No. 17. He’s a great quarterback, I think he’s one of the best in the league right now. I would love to be catching passes from him. I’m ready for that.”

Coleman, a former Michigan State transfer who once played collegiate basketball under legendary coach Tom Izzo, caught 50 passes for 658 yards and 11 touchdowns for the Seminoles last year. He was largely viewed as one of the more high-risk, high-reward pass-catchers in this year’s draft, a malleable ball of intangibles that could flourish if inserted into a favorable situation. The 6-foot-3, 213-pound wideout is a big-bodied passing game weapon who makes up for a lack of technical and route-running refinement with tremendous ball skills and ‘go up and get it’ ability; given his youth (he's just 20 years old) and athletic profile, there’s reason to believe that Beane, Allen, and company can mold him into whatever they’d like him to be. Buffalo fans will get their first on-field look at Coleman when the team’s rookie minicamp kicks off next week.