FARM TO FIELD - THE JOSH ALLEN STORY

Josh Allen is undoubtably one of the best Quarterbacks in the NFL, his 3rd place finish in last year's MVP race is concrete proof of that. However, despite Allen making football look easy, it’s not been an easy ride for him. From Farm to Field, this is the Josh Allen story.

Josh Allen grew up in Firebaugh, California, which has a population of 8100 people. It’s often called the Jewel; it is full of history and is one of the oldest towns in the region. It’s known for its natural farmland.

A Firebaugh native, Allen grew up on a cotton farm. If he wasn’t helping on the family farm, he was helping in the family restaurant. The root of Allen’s work ethic was founded here. His Dad, Joel worked long shifts on the farm, so it was expected that the kids helped.

If Josh wasn’t on the farm or restaurant, he was playing sport. Football, Baseball, Basketball, Swimming, you name it, Josh has done it. Josh and his brother Jason were often dubbed the most talented athletes in the school. His favorite sport, however, was football.

The fierce competitor that Josh was, meant that he dragged the Firebaugh Highschool team through games. So much so, he got the whole town involved. They knew that with Josh as their quarterback, they were never out of the game, he was special. Josh’s High School career ended on 5000 passing yards, 63 touchdowns and a 112.7 passer rating. Growing up a bulldog’s fan, he was desperate to attend Fresno State. However, despite his impressive high school numbers he received zero offers from D1 colleges. The Fresno state recruit officer said that he was just too small, hard to imagine considering he stands at 6”5 today. He was understandably, devastated.

Ernie Rodriguez. A name many of you probably haven’t heard of before. He was the one man that believed in Josh coming out of High School. The Offensive Coordinator from Reedley College drove to Firebaugh to take a look at the zero-star recruit quarterback. Rodriguez gave Josh a chance when no one else would. In 2019, he expressed his gratitude and thanked his former coach for letting him play the game he loved.

Despite not wanting to go to Junior College, Josh signed on and worked hard. Sitting on the bench humbled him. He was either in the gym or on the field. He even grew an extra two inches and was fast becoming the most athletically gifted person on the field. After 3 games, he got his chance to start where he scored 4 rushing touchdowns and firmly secured the starting spot.

Allen finished his first season at Reedley with 26 Passing TDs, 10 Rushing TDs and only 5 INTs. This re-ignited his ambition and he proceeded to email every D1 coach. He only received offers from two schools: Eastern Michigan and Wyoming.

Wyoming wasn’t even interested in Allen at the start. They came to Reedley to look at one of his teammates. They eventually noticed him, but only gave him an offer once their other QB prospects signed on elsewhere. Once he received the offer, Allen went to visit Wyoming. But on his return, he found out that Eastern Michigan had withdrawn their offer after his visit to other schools. So, Allen only had one choice. He was off to Wyoming.

After only the second game of his first season at Wyoming, Josh Allen was named the starting quarterback. However, after a few plays, just after Josh was settling in and starting to look good, he broke free for a 25–30-yard run, took a hard hit, and broke his collar bone.

Allen grinded and worked hard to recover and get back to full health. He impressed the coaches so much that they named him the day 1 starter for his sophomore year. The revenge tour was about to begin.

Allen had a chip on his shoulder and something to prove. He wanted to embarrass and carve open every team that didn’t give him an offer and show them what they missed out on. Allen scored a total of 36 touchdowns in his sophomore year. Passing for 28, rushing for 7 and even catching one. Allen’s dual threat ability led his team to a Mountain Division title.

After an impressive season, Allen thought about declaring for the 2017 NFL Draft, but decided to stay on for another year after talking to former Eagles and Commanders quarterback, Carson Wentz. Wentz was coached by Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl whilst at North Dakota State.

Allen’s final year with Wyoming got off to a rocky start and wasn’t as impressive as his sophomore year but the notable improvement was his accuracy. 2017 saw him only throw 6 picks compared to 15 the previous year. A promising sign for the NFL hopeful.

The 2018 quarterback class was stacked. There were five potential elite quarterbacks, with at least ten quarterback-needy teams. It was set to be a feisty affair. Especially with one of those teams, the Cleveland Browns holding the first and fourth pick.

It was hard to guess what the Browns would do. They didn’t have a great track record when taking quarterbacks. Tim Couch and Johnny Manziel providing ample evidence of that.

A lot of people had the Browns taking Josh Allen with their first overall pick. Of course, they ended up taking the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner, Baker Mayfield. Who knows what would’ve happened if Allen did get drafted to the Browns.

Josh ended up falling in the draft. The New York Giants passed on him to take star running back Saquon Barkley. The New York Jets chose USC quarterback Sam Darnold over him. The next few teams all had serviceable quarterbacks. This was starting to look like the same old thing for Josh Allen, people telling him no. Was he going to fall? Was this going to be another Aaron Rodgers situation? How many more people were going to overlook the talent?

Then, pick 7 came along. The Buffalo Bills had traded with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, sending two 2nd round picks and the 12th overall pick to move up to get their quarterback.

There was still questions though, was it going to be Josh Allen or Josh Rosen? The battle of the Josh’s. At the time, many people thought that Josh Rosen would be a better fit at the Bills. He was a five-star recruit from UCLA, many people believed that he was the best quarterback in this class. He was also the most ready quarterback, he knew the system and many people believed he would be able to start right away for the Bills.

To Allen’s delight, the Bills drafted him. Allen was the right fit for the Bills. He was bigger, stronger and had that gunslinger mentality.

Allen was compared to the likes of Carson Wentz and Cam Newton. That dual quarterback threat with a powerful arm was exactly what the Bills were looking for. No doubt that he was going to be a project, but the Bills were ready to take the risk.

Allen made his regular season debut against the Baltimore Ravens in week 1. Starting quarterback, Nate Peterman was benched after posting a 0.0 passer rating. Allen then started week 2 against the Chargers.

As expected, Josh didn’t get off to a hot start. He threw more interceptions than touchdowns and only completed 52% of his passes. He finished the year with 10 passing touchdowns, 8 rushing touchdowns and 12 interceptions. The Bills finished the season with a 6-10 record, but a 5-6 record when Allen was the starter. Despite this, some people were already labelling him a bust.

The potential with Allen was obvious. He showed his rawness at times with inaccurate balls and questionable decisions, but he also showed his natural talent and the huge arm that he had. In his first game as a starter, he launched a 57-yard bomb to wide receiver Zay Jones. He was also the first ever Bills quarterback to lead the team in passing and rushing yards in a single season. The kid had talent, he just needed to hone it.

The 2019 season started off well for Allen. Named a team captain and he led the Bills to a comeback win over divisional rivals, The Jets in Week 1. The season showed how much Allen had grown as a player. He finished with 20 passing touchdowns, 9 rushing touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He also threw for 3083 yards, 1000 yards more than the previous season and completed 58.8% of his passes. Not to mention, he led the Bills to the playoffs where they were narrowly defeated by the Houston Texans.

2020 saw the emergence of the Josh Allen we know today. The complete, dual threat quarterback. He managed to combine his bazooka like arm and natural talent with the technical skills that can only be achieved from years of playing in the league. He threw for 4544 passing yards, threw for 37 touchdowns, rushed for 8 touchdowns, and threw 10 interceptions. However, the most notable improvement was with his passing completion percentage which went up to 69.2%. This was the same guy that completed 49% at Reedley, 56% at Wyoming and 53% as an NFL rookie. The Bills ended up losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.

This was the real Josh Allen. Potential unleashed. The football player that Ernie Rodriguez knew he could be all those years ago. There’s a lot of people that can be credited to Allen’s dramatic improvement. Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll (Now Head Coach of the NY Giants) and quarterback coach (now offensive coordinator) Ken Doresy deservedly get most of the praise.

There are of course others who can be credited and play a key role in the Josh Allen Story. Offseason passing ‘guru’ and former NFL quarterback, Jordan Palmer. Palmer went to Josh Allen’s pro day and stated that he’d never seen a more talented quarterback.

Palmer introduced Allen to Chris Hess, an expert in football technology. They worked together on Josh’s accuracy. Palmer said that there was always the potential for Josh to turn his somewhat unpredictable cannon of an arm into an accurate one, but the key to unlocking it was in his feet. Their main focus was to keep Josh’s feet firmly on the ground.

Hess used a marker-less 3D motion capture system to analyze Josh as he threw countless passes. According to Hess, a football is thrown in this sequence; 1) The pelvis rotating. 2) The pelvis forms a fulcrum for the torso to rotate around. 3) Elbow extension. 4) Shoulder rotation. If Josh was able to throw the ball in this order, his accuracy would improve drastically. The biggest problem for Josh however was that he was throwing in the reverse of this order. He was throwing shoulder first.

Two weeks later, Josh returned to Hess with endless questions. Hess was surprised by Josh’s attentiveness and willingness to learn and improve. Josh’s intelligence was obvious. He now knew that he was throwing with just his arm, he was asking his arm to not just guide the ball but also to generate the power. What he needed to do was to generate his power from his pelvis and torso.

Hess also worked with the likes of Joe Burrow, quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals but said that Josh Allen was somewhat of an outlier. According to Hess its because of Josh’s farming upbringing. He says that there’s this natural drive and grind in Josh that comes from working on the farm. Farmers have a diligent patience where you always have to keep working with no immediate return.

Throughout the 2020 season, Allen’s biomechanical data got better and better. Evident by the drastic improvements in his stats, notably his passing accuracy. Of course, this wasn’t the only reason why he improved. In 2020 the Bills traded for elite wide receiver Stefon Diggs, and this was Allen’s third year in the Daboll system. Even if Hess and Palmer won’t take credit for Allen, it’s hard to ignore their contribution.

Palmer also said that COVID-19 may have helped Allen too. The travel restrictions forced not just Josh Allen but his other clients too to train in a football bubble. The players didn’t attend OTAs, they didn’t get distracted by any social activities. They just focused on their training with their trainers.

The 2021 and 2022 season saw more of the same from Josh Allen. Throwing for 35+ touchdowns, over 4000 passing yards, over 700 rushing yards and a 63% pass completion in both seasons.

2021 saw the Bills yet again reach the playoffs where he met Patrick Mahomes again. The star quarterbacks put on a spectacle and produced one of the best games of all time. The game saw an incredible three touchdowns scored in the last 2 minutes of the game which was tied at 36-36 and went to overtime. Allen threw for 329 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Kansas City Chiefs won the toss in overtime, elected to receive the ball. They scored a touchdown which meant Josh Allen didn’t get a chance to touch the ball in overtime. A cruel ending to the 2021 season.

Following the backlash over the power of the coin toss, in 2022 the NFL established new overtime rules for playoff games that allow both teams an opportunity to possess the ball.

Josh Allen led the Bills to a third consecutive AFC East title and finished on a 13-3 record, tied for the best record in franchise history. However, they lost to the Cincinnati Bengal’s in the Divisional round for the second consecutive year.

On August 6, 2021, Josh Allen signed a $258M, six-year extension. $150 million guaranteed for injury with $100 million fully guaranteed at signing. From a zero-star recruit, to one of the best quarterbacks in the league, there’s no question that Josh Allen deserves every bit of this contract.

It's fair to say that his story isn’t over. He’s only 27, in the prime of his career. Will he get over that divisional round and lead the Bills to the Superbowl? Is 2023 an MVP season for him?

By now we know that Josh will not give up. He will give it his all no matter what, and every setback just gives him more motivation to try even harder.

Whatever happens, Josh Allen is a future hall of famer, and an inspiration to thousands of kids out there to never give up on your dream.