Where does Bills star Josh Allen rank in The Athletic's 2024 QB ranking?

Does Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen rank among the NFL’s elite in The Athletic’s 2024 NFL signal-caller ranking?

Kyle Silagyi | Aug 26, 2024

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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is one of the more interesting players to discuss in the contemporary NFL given the range of opinions that respected voices have about him; though he’s developed into one of the league’s most dynamic quarterbacks in recent years (he’s the only player in NFL history to total over 40 touchdowns in four consecutive seasons), several individuals across the league still aren’t completely sold on his ranking among the NFL’s elite given his unorthodox style of play that can result in the occasional mistake or turnover.

He’s, in today’s league, one of the clearer examples of a ‘see what you want to see’ type of player; many prognosticators wrote him off in the lead-up to the 2018 NFL Draft given the unrefined nature of his game, and though he’s grown drastically over the past six years, some still struggle to admit his excellence and amplify his deficiencies to confirm their pre-draft opinions. Regardless, there comes a time when a player’s production and impact on the game is undeniable, and their merit must be recognized: this is why Allen ranks among the league’s elite in this year’s rendition of The Athletic’s quarterback ranking.

The annual list classifies the NFL’s veteran quarterbacks into a series of tiers, with Tier 1 reserved for passers whose “team[s] win because of [them]” and have “no real holes in [their] game.” Allen makes up Tier 1 of this year’s ranking alongside Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Cincinnati Bengals signal-caller Joe Burrow, with writer Mike Sando noting that there was a bit of variance in where the survey’s 50 total voters (made up of coaches, executives, and other league employees) ranked him.

“Allen, like Burrow, landed in Tier 1 for a third consecutive year,” Sando wrote. “He commanded five fewer Tier 1 votes this year compared to last but remained solidly within the top group.”

One head coach described Mahomes and Allen as “the two guys right now that people are the most afraid to play,” though 11 voters did not place him in Tier 1. One offensive coach questioned Allen’s football IQ and attributed his past turnover woes to the potential deficiency.

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“The reason I put him as a 2, I’m wondering if people have caught up to him a bit,” the coach told Sando. “If he can’t extend the down, it is hard for him to stay on schedule and protect the football. When you see guys throwing bad interceptions, why did they go there with the ball? Is it because they are not understanding what is in front of them?”

Allen’s football IQ is an oft-questioned part of this game, and though he’s not a cerebral ‘beat the other team with his mind’ passer á la Tom Brady, it’s not necessarily a glaring weakness, either. The passer's turnovers have also been a bit of a concern (Sando notes that he ranks second in the league in turnovers over the past three seasons with 59), but when he’s grossly offsetting this weakness with dominance (Sando also notes that he’s led the NFL in touchdowns over the same stretch with 128), the turnovers can be forgiven a bit.

It’s ultimately difficult to rank Allen in anything other than the first tier of passers (or second grouping if Mahomes is given a tier of his own) in any quarterback ranking, and thus, The Athletic’s recent list seems fair (even if some of the critiques are a bit outdated). The 28-year-old will look to again cement his status among the NFL’s best with a strong outing in 2024, a year in which he’s working with a revamped receiving corps.

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