Josh Allen Backup: Should Bills Trade for Sam Darnold?

A Buffalo Bills insider advocated for the team to turn to Sam Darnold, a former divisional rival, for the role of Josh Allen's understudy.

In 2018, many Buffalo Bills fans asked and were asked the question of whether they'd prefer Josh Allen or Sam Darnold in the seventh slot of the NFL Draft, should he have fallen that far.

Five years later, they could wind up with both.

No one in Western New York wants to consider the medically unthinkable scenario of Allen missing games due to injury but recent developments across the NFL show that would be a naive approach. Allen, in fact, was nearly lost due to elbow woes last November but recovered well enough to guide the team to another AFC East title.

What if the Bills aren't so lucky next time?

Unlike other squads packed to the brim with "camp arms," the Bills only have three quarterbacks stationed on their current roster. In addition to the illustrious Allen, Matt Barkley is back for his fifth Buffalo tour while the team also added the unrelated Kyle Allen. The latter Allen is on his fourth team since entering the league as a freshman free agent in 2018, spending last year with the Houston Texans.

Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic, however, notes that a quarterback controversy could linger.

"Things can still change, but I can’t shake the feeling that the Bills’ 2023 backup quarterback is not currently on the team," Buscaglia said. "He knows they’re in a Super Bowl window, and if Allen has to miss some games, having a solid replacement who can keep things afloat is worth a lot. As to who is out there worth signing or trading for, it’s worth monitoring the 49ers quarterback situation. Brock Purdy appears to be the starter, which could make Sam Darnold or Trey Lance available via trade."

"The best-case scenario for the Bills would be if they could trade for Darnold, who is tight with Josh Allen and is someone the Bills have long been fans of since the 2018 draft process."

Darnold would be an intriguing option for the Bills: he and Josh Allen have been both competitors, training partners, and friends since their shared NFL entry in the aforementioned 2018 draft. Fresh out of USC, Darnold was the third choice of the selections and went to the New York Jets, four picks before the Bills took Allen out of Wyoming. 

Alas, a long-standing AFC East rivalry was not to be: injuries and inconsistency marred Darnold's metropolitan fortunes and he was traded to the Carolina Panthers in 2021. He was the Panthers' opening day starter that season but posted a career-worst 71.9 passer rating in 12 appearances (11 starts). Darnold showed significant improvement last season when he regained the Carolina starting duties after Baker Mayfield's departure, posting a personal-best passer rating of 92.6 and 8.2 yards per attempt.

In June 2020, Allen referred to Darnold as "one of the greatest dudes."

“We’ve been able to rely on each other,” Allen said during an appearance on SiriusXM Radio. “(We) just kind of lean on each other I guess and just throughout the year, texting each other and just making sure like we’re both doing OK, and we’re both adjusting well to it. So we’ve kind of had similar situations and it’s fun to have somebody like that that’s kind of going through the same things.”

Darnold signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers last season and is set to compete with Lance for the backup job behind Purdy. The California native made his unofficial Golden State professional debut on Sunday, completing 5-of-8 passes for 84 yards in San Francisco's 34-7 loss to Las Vegas.

Barkley and Kyle Allen were generally consistent in their own summer debuts on Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts, an exhibition that kept Josh Allen on the bench. Granted the starting duties, Allen went 8-of-15 for 122 yards but ended the afternoon with a pick-six that gave Indianapolis a brief lead. Barkley went the rest of the way and completed 14-of-15 passes for 172 yards and two scores.

There's no guarantee that either Kyle Allen or Barkley would be a reasonable solution for a potentially ailing Josh Allen. Darnold, however, might have just enough upside and potential for the Bills, or another pass-hungry suitor, to take a gander.

Kyle Allen and Barkley's next opportunities to impress will land on Saturday when the Bills continue their preseason slate in Pittsburgh (6:30 p.m. ET, WIVB). 

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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