With NFL salary caps continuing to balloon, the contracts individual players are getting are following suit. Josh Allen is the latest example, with the Bills superstar receiving a six-year, $330 million extension from Buffalo. The deal includes an NFL-record $250 million guaranteed.
Allen still had four years and $140 million left on his current deal, but after an MVP season, the Bills rewarded their franchise cornerstone with a deal that ties him to the team through 2030. He certainly earned the pay bump after becoming the first player in league history with at least 25 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns as well as 10 or fewer interceptions.
Allen is one of the NFL’s all-time great success stories. Regarded as extremely physically talented but raw and inaccurate coming out of Wyoming, Allen was selected seventh overall in 2018. After a so-so rookie season that included plenty of flashes but also more interceptions (12) than touchdown passes (10), Allen improved in his second year and then took a huge jump his third year, finishing second in MVP voting. He has been outstanding ever since, and over the past five seasons only the Chiefs have won more games.
Of course, Allen and Bills fans are tired of being behind the Chiefs in just about anything. Kansas City defeated Buffalo in the AFC Championship game this season and has knocked the Bills out of the playoffs in four of the past five years overall.
But Allen’s latest deal ensures the Bills will stay right with the Chiefs as top-tier Super Bowl contenders and give Allen plenty of chances to finally get past Patrick Mahomes and co. in the postseason.
Here’s where Allen’s contract stacks up among quarterbacks on a per-year basis.
(NOTE: All contract data is from Over The Cap.)
The final two columns stand out: Only one of the 10 highest-paid quarterbacks on a per-year basis has won a Super Bowl, and it’s Hurts, who is 10th. Of course, Mahomes has been in the way of many of these players lifting the Lombardi Trophy. His 10-year, $450 million extension signed in 2020 now ranks 14th-richest among quarterbacks per year, but it remains the largest in total value in NFL history.
Brock Purdy, who is eligible for an extension this offseason, could be the next name to join the $50-million-per-year club.
