There were a lot of different opinions about quarterback Josh Allen in the months leading up to the draft, but one train of thought that ran through most of them was that Allen will need some time before he’s ready to assume a starting job in the NFL.
Allen went to the Bills with the seventh overall pick and they have AJ McCarron and Nathan Peterman on hand, but General Manager Brandon Beane didn’t rule anything out when discussing Allen’s chances of playing early.
“We’re not going to rush him, but you know if he somehow wins the job, he wins it,” Beane said, via NewYorkUpstate.com. “There’s other players out there. There will be 52 other players out there and if they see that he’s clearly the best, I don’t think we could do that. We wouldn’t do that at any other position, so we’ll let it go. But he’s got a lot of catching up to do, that’s the thing.”
McCarron and Peterman have only been working in the building with new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll for a couple of weeks, so they aren’t miles ahead of Allen when it comes to this specific system. Beane also noted ways Allen is ahead of some other rookie quarterbacks, namely that he played in a pro style offense as well as run the run-pass options that have become popular of late.
There’s still the much-discussed accuracy and footwork issues for Allen to iron out, which is an obstacle to winning a competition even if neither McCarron nor Peterman have well-established track records as NFL starters.
