The Buffalo Bills certainly would not be two wins from the Super Bowl this season if not for Josh Allen, and Allen would not continue to be the valuable player he is without being incredibly tough.
So with the Bills back in the AFC Divisional Round playoffs for the sixth straight year, head coach Sean McDermott opened up about the 2024 AP MVP award winner’s toughness ahead of their game against the Denver Broncos on Saturday.
Even though Allen was only hit 29 times in the regular season, he also has been a target on Buffalo’s short-yardage QB sneaks and his 49 scrambles, which were third-most in the NFL. Allen is a regular on the Bills injury list, yet has started 139 consecutive games including the playoffs, a streak that will continue when he starts his 140th straight game this weekend in Denver.
Sean McDermott: The Bills Have Known Josh Allen Was Tough Since College
McDermott is tied for the second-longest tenured head coach in the NFL, and he helped select Allen with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
So when asked when he first knew Allen was tough, McDermott said it was before he even knew the now-superstar quarterback.
“College,” McDermott said. “You could see it on the tape.”
While scouting Allen from the University of Wyoming during the 2017 season, and holding that top-10 pick that year, McDermott and GM Brandon Beane couldn’t resist the 6-5, 237-pound laser-rocket-armed quarterback’s intangible.
“[Beane] stood next to [Allen] in the end zone during pregame warmups and he was like ‘you wouldn’t believe how big this guy is,'” McDermott recalled. “But big does not necessarily mean tough, so the toughness part is you’re watching tape and you’re seeing the toughness part come out pretty clear.”
Those factors helped the Bills parse through Allen’s subpar college stats and see his greatness.
Many draft evaluators had Allen ranked highly initially before docking him for his lack of accuracy — ESPN’s Jeff Legwold had him ranked No. 27 overall and the No. 4 ranked QB behind Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and even Josh Rosen. Allen had a 56.2 completion% and 44-21 touchdown-to-interception rate over his three years at Wyoming.
Sean McDermott: Josh Allen Is A Tough, High-Character Person
Few players ascend to MVP and face-of-the-NFL status the way Allen has without being a model on and off the field.
So aside from taking a hit, and not being scared to dole one out in the process, McDermott could also see the leadership qualities Allen possessed before the Bills landed him.
“Just the way he handles himself, and really the meeting we had at his school his character really shone through and his character when meeting with us as an organization,” McDermott said. “We had a dinner scheduled, and he may have been a few hours away, he made it a point to travel back and meet us for a dinner — it wasn’t a 15- or 30-minute drive; it was a couple-hour drive from where he was coming from.
“That right there showed [the Bills] what this meant to him and also his character.”
Bills HC Sean McDermott Sends Clear Message on Josh Allen’s Toughness Amid Injury Scares