Bills Central

Why Bills star Josh Allen is taking ‘most overrated QB’ vote as a ‘term of endearment’

Buffalo Bills passer Josh Allen is not all that moved by a recent ESPN poll that ranked him as the NFL's "most overrated" quarterback.

Kyle Silagyi

Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen often finds himself at the center of football-centric discourse given his standing within the contemporary NFL, as he’s, by all accounts, one of the league’s most dynamic, impactful, and consistently productive players. This has, expectedly, rubbed some of his opposition the wrong way, this idea illustrated in a recent ESPN survey of 103 anonymous NFL players that ranked the Buffalo signal-caller as the league’s “most overrated” quarterback.

Allen received 11 votes in the category, the most of any passer. Showcasing the absurdity of the poll a bit is the fact that the 28-year-old also received the fourth-most votes in the “best quarterback” category (39), indicating that the outlet perhaps didn’t cast a wide enough net when conducting this survey. Allen being voted as the NFL’s “most overrated” signal-caller sparked conversations amongst and pushback from pundits and athletes from across the sports world, with multi-time NBA MVP LeBron James even coming to the former All-Pro’s defense.

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Allen isn't taking the vote too seriously, however—in fact, his ranking as the league’s “most overrated” quarterback isn’t even his biggest qualm with the survey. During a Wednesday appearance on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio with Adam Schein, Allen spoke about the poll and anonymous surveys, in general, telling the host that he’s simply upset that he’s never invited to participate.

“My reaction is, I’m not mad that 11 players not on my team don’t like me,” Allen said. “That’s number one, I actually think that’s a term of endearment. When other players don’t like me, that means I’m doing something the right way. I am mad at, however, I’m never, ever invited to participate in these anonymous surveys. That’s where I find this frustrating, I want to be a part of these surveys too and give my input, as well.

“If they are actual surveys going out, I would love to be a part of that. Hopefully I get the link to the next one.”

There’s some truth in Allen’s (admittedly comical) response, as he demonstrably has done ‘something the right way’ throughout the past several years in order to earn a reputation as one of the league’s premier players. He’s accounted for a league-high 203 touchdowns since his sophomore 2019 campaign, additionally totaling over 40 touchdowns in each of the last four seasons (which is an NFL record). It makes sense that some players don’t like him—who would like playing against a 6-foot-5 human rhinoceros who is capable of dismantling a team with both his arm and legs?

Allen seems entirely unmoved by the recent survey, to the point that he doesn’t even view it as a source of motivation. The two-time Pro Bowler told Schein that he’s simply going to continue doing what’s gotten him to this point, as it’s worked pretty well thus far.

“I would love to say yes, it does motivate me, and I could put it on my locker and use it as bulletin board material, but the fact is, I’m going into year seven, I’m coming out of a small farm town called Firebaugh, California,” Allen said. “I had no offers, I went the junior college route, ended up having one offer [from the] University of Wyoming, got drafted seventh overall by the Buffalo Bills. 

“Again, I’m in a spot where not many people, maybe me and my family are the only people who thought that I would ever be here, so I’m going to keep running with that. It serves me well, and I’m just going to keep playing football the way I know how to play it.”

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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