Bills GM Discusses ‘Tough’ Contract Dilemma With QB Josh Allen

It was never a question as to whether the Buffalo Bills would move to extend quarterback Josh Allen before his rookie contract expired. The question lay in how much they would pay.

In 2021, Allen signed a six-year extension worth $258 million. Two years later, he’s not even one of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in the league. While speaking to ESPN’s Lindsey Thiry about “the tricky business of building winning rosters around franchise QBs,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane opened up about the difficulty of finding that financial balance in order to build long-term success.

“You’ve got to have a quarterback who understands the business and who’s willing to ultimately have those conversations with his agent and us to find a deal that takes care of him, gives him the guarantees and the money he needs,” Beane said.

A year before Allen inked his deal, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes signed a $503 million extension after leading the team to the Super Bowl championship in 2020. However, Thiry noted, “the extension spans 10 years — an unusual contract length by NFL standards.”

By spreading out the money over a decade, Mahomes’ contract is considered team-friendly, and it’s a deal that largely influenced how Beane and Allen would proceed with their negotiations. As did Tom Brady, who made a total of $317 million during his 23 seasons in the NFL and retired with seven Super Bowl rings.

During a round of golf, “[Allen] and I talked a little bit about the pros and cons of that [Mahomes] deal and just some broad strokes of it,” Beane said. “And we talked about Tom Brady and the championships he won, and so that’s where it gets tough, because, yes, you want to be fairly compensated, and it’s not good for the team to get you on some deal that’s not fair to you either because you’re going to be unhappy and that doesn’t work.

“You got to think about your legacy, your career and the more money you take … the less I can do to put weapons around you.”

In August 2021, Beane joked during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” that the process of landing on a salary and length for Allen’s extension had him “curled up into the fetal position a couple of times. … We knew they were going to be big numbers.”

“Having him for eight years,” Beane noted, as the Wyoming alum still had two years left on his deal when the extension was signed, “is a relief.”

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Josh Allen Was ‘Very Adamant’ About Not Losing Guys That ‘Can Help Us Win’

While Allen wanted a contract that showed “respect,” he also wanted to be surrounded by great players that can help bring Buffalo its first-ever Lombardi Trophy.

“Josh was very adamant about — ‘I’ll work with my people and, yes, I want to be recognized — there’s a respect thing — but I also [want] to win and I want to be able to keep player X, player Y,'” Beane said. “Now, if I do that and then I don’t back it up and I’m losing some of the guys that he thinks can help us win or we’re going cheap now, we’re probably going to have a problem.”

The Bills have yet to win a championship, but that window remains wide open as long as Allen, 27, is healthy.

Fresh off a second Super Bowl championship, Mahomes said he regretted nothing about his team-friendly deal. The 27-year-old two-time MVP said during OTAs last week, “Me, my agent and the team, always keep open communication and we try and do whatever is best for the team, but obviously I want to do the best for myself as well. But at the same time, I want to — I’ve always said I worry about legacy and winning rings more than making money at this moment.”

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Josh Allen Is Expected to Drop to the 10th Highest-Paid Quarterback in 2023

This has been a big-money offseason for quarterbacks, as the Philadelphia Eagles gave Jalen Hurts a five-year, $255 million extension that included $180 million guaranteed, and Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens agreed to a five-year, $260 million extension with $185 million guaranteed.

As it stands, Allen has the eighth highest salary ($43 million) among NFL quarterbacks, per NBC Sports, but that is expected to shift once Justin Herbert gets his extension from the Los Angeles Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals extend quarterback Joe Burrow.

While Allen was the second highest paid quarterback when he inked the deal in August 2021, The Buffalo News wrote in April that the 27-year-old’s contract now “looks like a bit of a bargain.”

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