NFL Exec Rips Josh Allen: ‘1 of the More Overrated Players…Makes a Lot of Mistakes’

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is “one of the more overrated players in the NFL” in the view of one team executive in the league.

“Immense talent but he makes a lot of mistakes,” the exec said to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “He’s underdeveloped at winning at the line of scrimmage, tends to lock on to targets, more of a thrower than precision passer, forces throws into traffic.”

The comments came as part of Fowler’s annual positional rankings, which derive from soliciting the opinions of various executives, coaches and scouts within the NFL. Allen was the No. 3 quarterback behind the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow.

The 28-year-old threw for 4,306 yards and 29 touchdowns while running for 524 yards and 15 scores in 2024, and he finished in the top five of the MVP voting for the third time in the last four years.

The Bills also won the AFC East for the fourth straight season and earned their fifth successive trip to the playoffs.

If you were to build a roster from scratch, there aren’t many players you’d take above Allen.

The criticism toward the 28-year-old is beginning to get a bit louder, however, due to two main factors. Buffalo has exited in the AFC divisional round each year since its 2020 trip to the AFC title game, and Allen has thrown 47 interceptions in the regular season over that span, which Fowler notes are the most in the NFL.

Last November, the Bills lost 24-22 to the Denver Broncos, a result that dropped them to 5-5 on the season. Allen finished 15-of-26 for 177 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions and lost one fumble.

While not the most consequential game in the grand scheme of things, it was particularly instructive in how people reacted to it. Allen’s performance was framed by his skeptics within a wider context.

This is almost certainly going to be the push and pull with Allen for the duration of his career. Part of what sets him apart is his pure throwing ability and willingness to attempt passes that aren’t in the tool kits of other quarterbacks. But that inevitably means the bad throws are going to look really bad.

Brett Favre is the obvious comparison to draw. The Green Bay Packers legend is fourth all time in touchdowns and first in interceptions. Dan Marino — seventh in TDs and eighth in picks — could be equally as frustrating at times.

With Allen, you’re still happy to take the trade-off because the good far outweighs the bad. He ranked third in QBR (69.6) last year, per ESPN.com, after finishing second (73.4) in 2022.

Until the Bills win a Super Bowl with the two-time Pro Bowler at the helm, though, he’s bound to have a somewhat substantial volume of voices either calling him overrated or questioning whether he’s the guy.