This hasn’t exactly been a good offseason for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. They traded star wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the rapidly rising Houston Texans, and they also lost Gabe Davis, their WR2, in free agency to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Interestingly, a lot of people are still picking the Bills to win the AFC East, a division that includes the explosive Miami Dolphins and the combustible yet talented New York Jets.
There will be an added load and amount of pressure on Allen, who is universally considered one of the three to five best quarterbacks in the NFL.
But Anthony DiBona of Pro Football Network figured Allen is the likeliest player on Buffalo’s roster to see his production drop this fall and winter.
“There’s no denying that Josh Allen is one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL,” DiBona wrote. “However, following the loss of his top two wide receivers in Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, it’s fair to assume that Allen will take a step back in 2024.
“Following both players’ arrivals in 2020, Allen took a massive step forward. Now it’ll be up to him to prove that he can continue playing at an elite level despite missing two of Buffalo’s top playmakers in recent years.”
How will Josh Allen fare without Stefon Diggs?
Allen, the No. 7 pick in the 2018 draft, struggled mightily in his first two pro seasons. He completed just 56.3 percent of his pass attempts and threw just 30 touchdown passes against 21 interceptions during that time.
But then along came Diggs in the 2020 offseason via a trade with the Minnesota Vikings. With Diggs by his side, Allen took off like a herd of stampeding buffalo.
He threw for 4,544 yards and 37 touchdowns—both of which are still career highs—that season, which landed him his first Pro Bowl selection. Diggs, too, benefitted from this new partnership, as he led the league in receiving yards and also earned his first Pro Bowl nod.
This past season, there were incessant rumors that Diggs was unhappy with the Bills’ organization. Some speculated the subject of his discontent was Allen himself, but Allen denied it every time it came up.
The hope for Buffalo is that Khalil Shakir, a fifth-round draft pick in 2022 who showed some growth last year, will continue that growth enough this fall to become a legitimate, reliable option at wide receiver. Josh Allen will have to play his part by getting him the ball in situations where doing so won’t be easy.
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