Pro Football Rumors
Last season further entrenched the Bills in an impressive but unfortunate contingent in NFL history. In booking a seventh playoff berth in eight seasons (six of those with Josh Allen at the helm), this Buffalo nucleus is firmly among the best — along with the Air Coryell Chargers, Marty Schottenheimer‘s Browns and Chiefs squads, and probably the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson-era crew (among others) — to not reach a Super Bowl. After 2024 brought a retooling offseason that lowered expectations, last year’s run to the Super Bowl LIX precipice restored them for 2025.
As the Bills continue their agonizing trend of controlling the regular-season Chiefs rivalry before losing each playoff rematch, they went to work augmenting key areas. But ensuring a batch of early-2020s draft choices remained in Buffalo long term defined this offseason. One extension towered among the others in value and importance, but a host of reasonably priced paydays set up this Bills core for the decade’s remainder.
The Allen contract came without rumored talks. That theme persisted, with one notable exception, as the Bills planned their paydays. Allen entered the offseason tied to what had become a wildly team-friendly deal, as the QB market exploded beyond the $50MM-per-year rate and as Allen had established himself as a megastar. The Bills did not technically need to do anything after the seven-year veteran’s MVP season; his six-year extension (agreed to in August 2021) ran through the 2028 slate. But as the market had moved the Buffalo icon out of the top 10 among QBs, the team acted.
Allen’s new contract is more of a lucrative rework than a true extension. Only two new years are included; the QB is now tied to the Bills through the 2030 season. But the Bills rewarded their franchise cornerstone with a massive guarantee influx. Allen, 28, received what amounts to a $90MM raise on his previous deal. The fully guaranteed money represented the lead item here. Allen’s $147MM figure is well south of Deshaun Watson‘s $230MM, but this contract beats every other deal in terms of fully guaranteed money. Although Allen could not catch Dak Prescott‘s massive $60MM-AAV accord — one achieved with far more leverage than the Bills QB carried — he topped the Cowboys passer in upfront guarantees.
Some 14 months after Patrick Mahomes‘ outlier 10-year extension, Allen became the only quarterback to agree to a deal beyond five years. This helped the Bills, who have gone to the restructure well like the Chiefs have....
