Don’t expect potential Josh Allen extension with Bills until later on
With success comes fortune… or at least it does if you’re Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
The QB broke out in 2020 while playing on his rookie contract. The Bills still have him under that deal in 2021, and then for the ensuing season, Buffalo can activate the fifth-year option.
Beyond that, he’s a free agent. That is, if the Bills don’t address his contract and it’s expected that could happen as soon as this offseason.
But… give it some time, according to Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane.
Among the numerous nuggets that Beane dropped while appearing as a guest the Cris Collinsworth Podcast, one involved Allen’s contract. The GM said that currently he’s not thinking about that. He has other things on his to-do list first.
“Josh is a guy that we do believe in and we would definitely take a look at him later this offseason,” Beane said. “Right now, we’ll focus on our upcoming free agents, plus anybody we want to add, and then the draft. Generally, what I’ve done here is look at guys to extend once we get through the draft, see what our money is like, see how we could structure it to fit not only this year, but the years beyond.”
Beane also essentially assured that the Bills do plan to use that fifth-year option. The end goal would be to keep Allen locked up long-term, but current salary cap difficulties might need to become clearer first, Beane said.
“Let’s say in May, does it look like we’re going to have 75% in the stands, 100% in the stands? And just try and see if we can predict what next year’s cap is going to be based on a new TV deal, fans in the stands, just to know how we would structure his deal if we were to do something this year,” Beane said. “But we have the fifth-year option if we can’t make it work or we don’t have a good clarity on the cap.”
The salary cap situation is because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Fans did not attend games last season because of it, and that caused NFL revenues to go down… and that will cause the 2021 salary cap to drop as well. Latest reports indicate it could fall between $180-185 million. In 2020, the cap was at $198.2M.
Then of course that leaves question in regard to 2021 and beyond. If Allen’s signing an extension, how does the cap in those ensuing seasons look? Do they go up again? Beane will want to have a good feel on those things before getting Allen locked up, but it’s assumed by many that the QB will get a deal eventually.
Heck, Allen even exclaimed last season upon donations in his grandmother’s name that he “doesn’t ever want to leave” Buffalo… we just might have to wait a little bit for Allen to sign on the dotted line, which is understandable.
