Bills Central

ESPN analyst says Bills' Josh Allen is 'the best QB in football right now'

ESPN's Dan Orlovsky does not think there's a quarterback playing better football than Buffalo Bills passer Josh Allen right now.

Kyle Silagyi

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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is seemingly a man who has it all, but he’s unfortunate in that he just so happens to play professional football in the same era as a player who will unequivocally go down as one of—if not the—greatest signal-caller in the history of the sport.

Allen has been immensely productive throughout the past several seasons, cementing himself as one of the league’s best players as he’s transformed the once-lowly Bills into a perennial contender. He’s almost universally viewed as one of the quarterbacks in the NFL… behind only Kansas City Chiefs signal-caller Patrick Mahomes.

The vast majority of national Allen discourse comes with the ‘obvious’ caveat that Mahomes is not only better than the Buffalo passer, but he’s better than every other player in the league. This is fair; Mahomes has objectively been the NFL's best quarterback throughout the better half of the last decade, leading his team to three Super Bowl victories as he’s twice earned NFL MVP honors. He’s been a thorn in the side of Allen and the Bills, serving as an insurmountable roadblock preventing Buffalo from achieving glory as Kansas City has eliminated it from the playoffs in three of the past four seasons.

Related: Future GOAT? Bills QB Josh Allen off to a better career start than Tom Brady

Nobody is denying Mahomes’ greatness—he’s special—but his past success can sometimes cloud season-centric conversations. For example, Allen has been statistically superior to Mahomes to kick off the 2024 campaign; through three games, Allen has completed 75% of his passes for 634 yards, seven scores, and zero interceptions. Mahomes, over the same stretch, has completed 70% of his passes for 659 yards (on 20 more attempts), five touchdowns, and four interceptions; both have been excellent, but Allen’s stat line is objectively more impressive.

Josh Allen Patrick Mahome
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Throw in the fact that Allen has led a more statistically productive offense and currently leads the league in total touchdowns (nine), and it’s clear that the 28-year-old—right now—is playing better football than Mahomes; some are afraid to make this observation publicly given the Kansas City quarterback’s immensely impressive resume. ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky is not among this camp; the pundit ranked his top-five quarterbacks at this point in the season on Thursday’s edition of First Take, putting Allen at the top of his list.

“Josh Allen is the best quarterback in football right now,” Orlovsky said. “He is an absolute wagon. Distributing the football, probably the best offensive line in football right now. 

Aaron Rodgers, Sam Darnold, Kyler Murray, and Geno Smith round out Orlovsky’s list, meaning that the reigning Super Bowl MVP is not even present. It’s a generally fair ranking, as it’s difficult to reasonably argue that a quarterback is playing better than Allen right now; he ranks second among signal-callers who have thrown at least 50 passes in completion percentage (75%), second in passing touchdowns (seven), and first in passer rating (133.7).

It’s completely fair to prefer Mahomes to Allen as a player, but the latter quarterback is, by every meaningful metric, playing better football at this time. Allen will look to maintain his otherworldly level of play throughout the remainder of the 2024 campaign; fans will have the opportunity to watch him and Mahomes face off when the Bills host the Chiefs in a Week 11 clash this November.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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