Bills QB Josh Allen’s Fifth-Year Option Delivers $23 Million Salary Hike

The Buffalo Bills doubled down on Josh Allen becoming their franchise quarterback on Monday, announcing that they’ve exercised his fifth-year option.

Allen is entering the final year of the rookie contract, and by picking up his fifth-year option, he will not only remain with the Bills through 2022, but he will also soon make 23 times his current base salary.

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Selected by Buffalo as the No.7 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Allen is making less than $1 million in base salary for the 2021 season, as reported by WGR 550’s Sal Carpaccio, which seems wild for the 24-year-old quarterback, the only player in NFL history to record at least 4,000 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns, and eight rushing touchdowns in a single season.

The University of Wyoming alum has started 43 games since being draft by Buffalo, during which the 2020 Pro Bowler has thrown for 9,707 passing yards and 67 passing touchdowns. With these kinds of stats, it’s shocking to learn Allen’s fifth-year option delivers the quarterback a salary pay bump to $23.016 million for the 2022 NFL season.

Buffalo also picked up a fifth-year option for linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, a two-time Pro Bowler who led the team on defense with 119 tackles in 2020. During Edmunds, three seasons with the Bills, he’s totaled three interceptions, 355 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks, 24 passes defended, and two forced fumbles.

While Edmunds will make just over $2.2 million for this upcoming season, in 2022, his salary will jump to $12.791 million.

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Buffalo’s GM Is Working on Allen’s Contract Extension

While Allen’s fifth-year extension was inevitable, Bills’ general manager Brandon Beane is working out a deal to make sure the NFL’s MVP runner-up stays in Buffalo for the foreseeable future.

Allen’s contract extension is expected to have a jaw-dropping price tag. According to Spotrac.com, the quarterback is expected to receive a 4-year contract with $168 million.

If his contract reaches the 6-year range, the total value of his contract will jump to around $200 million.

Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti wrote, “In terms of money, the current year and 5th year option combine for $26.5M, so that’s our old money starting point. We’ll tack of $168M of new money over 4 new years, or 6 years, $194.5M… The deal we’ve projected for Josh Allen here offers $26M in year 1, $47M through year 2, and over $80M through three years, a sizable jump up.”

Offering Allen a franchise record-breaking contract shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. In 2018, the Bills believed in him enough to trade the No. 12, No. 53, and No. 56 picks to nab him with the 7th overall pick.

As for when fans can expect Allen to ink that extension, Beane revealed a major update during a press conference on April 20:

Josh and I have spoken and I’ve also had one conversation with one of his representatives that we’re just going to get through the draft and then when we get to later spring, maybe summer — there’s no rush. But we’ll have some kind of conversation. And, listen, we would love to get Josh extended — no doubt. But it’s going to be a number that works for him and works for us, and that’s been my conversation with them. And they know the same… If itt happens this year, great. If it doesn’t, I’ll be very positive that we’ll get it done next year.

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