Josh Allen reveals the real reason he did not push the Bills front office to make him the highest paid quarterback in the NFL.
Josh Allen (Image via AP)
The Buffalo Bills made quarterback Josh Allen one of the top paid quarterbacks in the NFL by offering him a $330 million deal. The reigning MVP will receive $250 million of it guaranteed, which makes his deal historic. Despite signing this deal, Allen is still not the highest-paid quarterback in the league.
That title belongs to a man who has achieved far lesser than him but is deemed more valuable to his franchise, Dak Prescott. Considering the season he had, Josh Allen could have demanded to become the highest paid quarterback in the league. However, he chose to settle for a lesser amount so that he could achieve his ultimate goal.
Allen has always wanted to win a Super Bowl and to do that, the Bills will need capital to add more pieces and build the team. They would not have been able to accomplish this if the quarterback was taking home $60 or more million a year.
He shared the reasoning behind taking a lesser paycheck on The Process podcast with Nick Veronica.
To my perspective, it didn’t seem like I was taking a whole lot less. The way I make sense of it, when you start getting these fairly big numbers throughout the entire league, it’s weird to say this, but what’s 5 (million) more going to do for my life that I already cannot do now?
Josh Allen said
An average annual value of $55 million is nothing to feel bad about, and Allen understands that. He has enough money to buy a car, house, and all that he needs right now. So that difference amount of $5 million does not make that much of a difference to him.
Josh Allen instructed his agent to not handicap the Bills’ cap space
However, that same $5 million is more valuable to the team because they can utilize it to bring better players onto the roster. Allen made sure to let his agent know that he does not want a contract that hinders Buffalo’s ability to bring talent around him.
His team-friendly attitude is laudable. Allen represents a rare breed of quarterback who are willing to make sacrifices in order to maintain a winning culture in the franchise.
I live a pretty good life, I got a house, got a car, we’re good but I wasn’t looking to absolutely kill them ever chance I could and I told my agent that ‘If this has any impact on the cap, let’s figure out a way to not do that,’…it was a pretty calm mannered negotiation.
Josh Allen shared his mentality throughout the negotiations between the two sides
His mentality is reminiscent of Tom Brady’s statement, “Hey, if my family and I can’t live on $60 million, there’s really something wrong.” These are traits which make Allen the ideal franchise quarterback.
For the next six seasons, Buffalo can focus entirely on building around Allen. The franchise is fully convinced that if there is a person that can help break their Super Bowl curse, it is him. A painful 0-4 record in the championship has haunted Bills Mafia for decades. They have come close to winning the big game in 1990s but witnessed the victory being snatched from right under their fingers.
