The Bills were fortunate to draft Josh Allen with the No. 7 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, but he almost didn’t land in Buffalo.
Allen actually thought he was heading to a different team on draft night and that he’d land with the Denver Broncos, who had the No. 5 pick.
“I got a text from the Broncos’ quarterback coach at the time saying, ‘I hope you’re there when we get to pick’,” Allen told former Broncos players Chris Harris and Emmanuel Sanders on their podcast “The Matchup” on Friday. “And I was like, I’m probably going to be a Bronco.”
Denver ultimately drafted North Carolina State pass rusher Bradley Chubb with the No. 5 pick.
Chubb and Allen are now teammates in Buffalo, as Chubb did come to the Bills this offseason, signing a three-year, $43.5 million deal in March.
Former Broncos quarterback John Elway was Denver’s general manager/Executive VP of football operations in 2018 and passed on Allen.
Of course, Allen stated that every time he sees Elway, he has to remind him that he didn’t draft him.
“I actually had the chance to be around Elway a couple of times. I jab him every time I see him. Hey, remember when you didn’t draft me,” Allen added.
It Took Denver Until 2024 to Find Its Franchise Quarterback
The Broncos drafted a quarterback in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft, selecting Paxton Lynch with the No. 26 pick. However, Lynch didn’t last long in Denver; he appeared in only five games, starting four, from 2016 to 2017.
Denver drafted quarterback Drew Lock in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. In the 2022 offseason, it traded two first-round picks, along with significant capital and players, for Russell Wilson, but he lasted only two seasons.
Finally, the Broncos found their franchise quarterback, Bo Nix, in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, and he has led the team to two playoff appearances.
Allen Could Have Been Close to Laramie
If the Broncos had drafted Allen, he could have played close to where he attended college at the University of Wyoming.
Laramie is just over a two-hour drive from Denver, and he could have had many Wyoming fans already wearing Broncos gear support him.
But even though Laramie is about 1,534 miles from Buffalo, tons of Allen fans make the trip to Western New York to see him.
“There would’ve been a lot of Broncos fans in Laramie and in Wyoming that would have just commuted to every single game, but now they are coming to Buffalo,” Allen said.
Allen will face the Broncos in December, as the Bills will travel to Denver to play on Christmas Day. This game is a rematch of last season’s divisional round, where Buffalo lost and fired head coach Sean McDermott a few days later.
Bills’ Josh Allen Admits He Expected to Land With This Franchise