Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane has set the deadline: He will stop negotiating with quarterback Josh Allen once the regular season begins.
With no reported momentum on an extension, Beane’s edict appears to signify that Allen won’t be signed long-term until next year. After all, there are only four weeks left in training camp.
Right?
Not so fast.
Beane has a penchant for re-signing players during camp. Recent history shows that Beane can meet his self-imposed deadline, if talks begin to heat up.
First, there was Dion Dawkins. The Bills reached a four-year, $60 million extension ($34 million guaranteed) with the left tackle last August, just as he was entering the final season of his rookie deal. Instead of stretching Dawkins, the Bills wisely opted to reward him.
The new deal made him the fifth-highest-paid left tackle in the NFL.
About three weeks later, Beane inked Tre’Davious White to a new contract, even though he was just entering his fourth season. There were 23 cornerbacks drafted in the first round from 2011 to 2016, the year before White’s rookie campaign. Only one of them, Patrick Peterson, signed an extension before the start of his fourth season.
But Beane rewarded White, showering the star corner with $70 million over four years — with $55 million guaranteed. The total value of the deal made him the highest-paid cornerback in the league, until the Los Angeles Rams signed Jalen Ramsey to a new deal just a couple of days later.
White, the 27th overall selection in the 2017 NFL Draft, was the first pick of the Sean McDermott era. He served as the franchise’s first foundational piece under McDermott.
One year later, the Bills drafted Allen seventh overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Beane has a track record of rewarding core members of Buffalo’s nucleus, and nobody is more crucial than Allen. White’s extension also shows Beane is comfortable working towards a deal in training camp one year before it has to happen.
Since the Bills exercised Allen’s fifth-year option (along with linebacker Tremaine Edmunds), he’s guaranteed to come back next season. The Bills need their franchise quarterback and Allen wants to stay.
An extension seems inevitable, if not guaranteed.
But there are advantages to signing Allen sooner rather than later. It would eliminate any variables that could come up during the 2021 season, and risk that Allen won’t play the next 10 years in Buffalo — as unlikely as that may seem.
The Bills are preparing to sign Allen. Earlier this summer, they converted $11.7 million of Stefon Diggs’ salary into a signing bonus, saving them roughly $8 million in cap space.
Now, Beane has four weeks to get it done before the season starts. Allen has already been awesome during camp, and in fact, made Emmanuel Sanders’ jaw drop. That’s high praise coming from somebody who’s caught passes from Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees over the course of his career.
Allen is on their talent level. Now it’s time for him to be paid like them, too.
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