Josh Allen's 'self-destruction' named flaw that could derail Bills' 2024 season

One outlet thinks that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen will regress in the absence of wide receiver Stefon Diggs.

Jan 21, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) reacts after / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Unfounded, lazy narratives are akin to a bad cold in that you just can’t get rid of them.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is almost universally viewed as one of the best quarterbacks in professional football. He’s earned NFL MVP votes in three of the last four seasons. His team has qualified for the postseason in each of the last five campaigns and has won playoff games in four of them. He’s the only player in NFL history who has tallied over 40 total touchdowns in four consecutive seasons and seems primed to do it yet again in the 2024 campaign.

And yet, some still doubt his ability.

Questions regarding Allen’s reliability and status as an elite NFL quarterback largely stem from his pre-draft scouting report and underwhelming initial professional seasons; coming out of Wyoming, the signal-caller was, admittedly, a red-flag-riddled ball of clay that many pundits justifiably had little hope for. Though an athletic marvel, Allen had accuracy and mechanical issues with the Cowboys, with these qualms leaking over into his first two professional seasons. He was not good as a rookie, throwing for just over 2,000 yards and 12 interceptions compared to 10 touchdowns. He improved in the 2019 campaign but was largely a game-manager, keeping Buffalo’s offense moving as it finished the year 10-6 and earned a Wild Card berth.

Related: 2024 Bills 53-man roster projection: Pre-minicamp edition

Allen unexpectedly exploded in the 2020 campaign, evolving from an athletic, but limited quarterback into a world-beating game-wrecker. He passed for 37 touchdowns and over 4,500 yards that year, also picking up 421 yards and eight scores on the ground. 

His ascension was unforeseen. Unbelievable, even. Some still can’t even believe it, to the point that they continue to doubt Allen despite the fact that he’s maintained this elite level of play—with the odd head-scratching decision here and there—in the three seasons since his breakout.

Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton recently wrote an article breaking down each contender’s one roster flaw that could prove fatal in the 2024 NFL season, identifying Allen’s potential to “self-destruct” in the absence of former No. 1 wide receiver Stefon Diggs as Buffalo’s biggest concern on the season.

“This season, the Buffalo Bills are poised to find out if Josh Allen can elevate a wide receiver corps or if he needs a go-to target to perform at a Pro Bowl level,” Moton wrote.” “. . . Even with Diggs on the roster, Allen has had some head-scratching performances. Some of those involved questionable decision-making from the pocket, leading to game-changing turnovers. In fact, Allen threw a career-high 18 interceptions last season.

“To replace Diggs, the Bills signed Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency and selected Keon Coleman in the second round of the 2024 draft. But the collection of incoming receiver talent may not be enough to replace Diggs' production and bail Allen out of bad decisions.”

Concerns about the general quality of Buffalo’s receiving corps after the offseason loss of both Diggs and Gabriel Davis are warranted; Diggs, after all, is the Bills’ fourth-all-time leading receiver, and he objectively played a significant role in helping Allen ascend from glorified game-manager into an elite signal-caller.

That said, the suggestion that Allen may “self-destruct” in his absence is simply the regurgitation of a narrative that has long been rooted in fiction. Diggs helped Allen, but he did not make Allen, and the quarterback is demonstrably talented enough to succeed without the pass-catcher. He’s done just fine over long stretches of the past two seasons in which Diggs was largely unproductive and unimpactful.

Additionally, this won’t be the season the Bills “find out if Allen can elevate a receiver corps;” we already know he can. He’s done so several times before, even before he was this version of himself. Think back to 2018 when undrafted free agent Robert Foster looked like a legitimate NFL wide receiver while catching bombs from Allen. Look back to 2019 when John Brown and Cole Beasley, who were largely role players with their previous teams, concurrently constructed career years when playing with a sophomore Allen.

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One can even look at Diggs, who immediately set a new career-high in receiving yards upon linking up with the quarterback.

Sure, one could argue that each of these players benefitted from being featured in more prominent roles in Buffalo’s offense than they were elsewhere, but to do that is to simply discredit and belittle Allen for the sake of doing so. 

He’s good. He’s been good for a long time. He will likely continue to be good for even longer. To pretend otherwise is silly.

It’s possible that Allen ‘self-destructs’ in the absence of his former primary pass-catcher. History and his talent suggest otherwise.