Josh Allen has another piece of outside validation heading into the season: NFL coaches, general managers and executives voted the Buffalo Bills star the best quarterback in the league.
Allen edged Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams for the top spot, and one vice president of player personnel told SI, “He’s still the most dangerous all around,” said one VP of player personnel via SI, “and the offense may be less conservative this year."
That reputation makes sense when you look at what Allen just put on tape. Last season, he threw for 3,668 yards and 25 touchdowns while adding 579 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. Buffalo’s season ended in the AFC Divisional Round with a loss to the Denver Broncos, and the Bills still have not reached the Super Bowl during Allen’s run.
Allen’s career production keeps stacking up, too. He enters this season with 30,102 passing yards, 220 passing touchdowns, 4,721 rushing yards and 79 rushing touchdowns.
The next step is obvious, even if the path is anything but easy: Buffalo has to finally get over the hump. The Bills have made it to the AFC Championship Game twice in the Allen era, and both times they ran into Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
There’s also a new chapter beginning in Buffalo. The Bills open the 2026 season against the Houston Texans to kick off the Joe Brady era after Sean McDermott was fired and Brady was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach.
Allen said this after Brady was named HC: "Still respecting the past and what's been here the last 10 years and not shying away from that, but also having his own twist on it," Allen said after Brady was named HC. "It's been really good to see him embrace the role and step into it. The way that he talks to the guys, you can tell he's very well respected with everybody in that locker room, and it's only going to continue to grow in my opinion."
Buffalo also made a big move to give Allen more help, trading for Moore from the Chicago Bears. Moore caught 50 passes for 682 yards and six touchdowns last season while playing all 17 games. Over his career with the Carolina Panthers and Bears, he has 608 receptions for 8,213 yards and 41 touchdowns.
That gives Allen another dangerous target in Brady’s offense, and it could matter in a big way as he keeps chasing the kind of championship hardware that would lock in his place among the all-time greats. He needs at least one Super Bowl to get there, and the clock is ticking as he heads into a season where he can also pass Mahomes for the most combined passing and rushing yards by a quarterback in his first nine NFL seasons.
In Other News...
Bills Face A Texans Problem That Could Decide Their Opener
Houstons defense gave Buffalo a look last season that is hard to ignore heading into the opener. The Texans sent extra rushers at one of the lowest rates in the league, yet still found ways to get after quarterbacks, including Josh Allen in a Week 12 meeting when Buffalo saw pressure even though the blitz came sparingly. For a Bills offense that wants to keep Allen upright and in rhythm, that kind of pressure profile is the kind of problem that can shape a game plan before the first snap.
James Cook looms as a key answer because the Bills may need more than protection schemes and quick throws to keep Houston honest. If the Texans can create disruption without overcommitting, Buffalo will have to lean on the run game to slow the rush and open up space for everything else. It is the sort of matchup detail that can quietly decide an opener, especially against a defense that has already shown it can make life uncomfortable without sending the house. [Read more 🡒]
Mike Tomlin Just Created A Bills What-If Fans Will Notice
Mike Tomlins first public comments since parting ways with the Steelers in January had a ripple effect that Bills fans were bound to notice. After 19 seasons in Pittsburgh, the longtime head coach said in a recent interview that he is open to getting back into the NFL if the right opportunity comes along, and he also spoke glowingly about Josh Allen while reflecting on his time away from the sideline.
For Buffalo, it is the kind of what-if that naturally lingers around a franchise built around a franchise quarterback and high expectations. Tomlin did not sound eager to rush into anything, but he made it clear he still sees coaching as a real possibility, which only adds another layer to a future that already has Bills fans thinking about how long this current window can stay open. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Captain Picks Say A Lot About Buffalos 2026 Leadership Plan
The Bills have settled on their leadership core for the 2026 season, and the group says plenty about how the locker room is being shaped around both continuity and change. Josh Allen and Terrel Bernard are back in their familiar roles as captains, while Dawson Knox, Bradley Chubb, Reid Ferguson and Sam Franklin Jr. round out a group that mixes established voices with a few new faces.
For Knox, it is his first time wearing the captain label, a notable step for a player who has long been part of the team's identity on offense. Allen, meanwhile, keeps extending one of the more durable captaincy runs on the roster, reaching his eighth, and the mix of returning leaders and first-time additions suggests the Bills are leaning on experience while widening the circle of responsibility heading into the new season. [Read more 🡒]