Bills GM on Josh Allen Starting: 'If He Somehow Wins the Job, He Wins It'

The Buffalo Bills may have signed AJ McCarron to be their starting quarterback for 2018, but that doesn't mean newly drafted rookie Josh Allen will be stapled to the bench.

Bills general manager Brandon Beane told reporters it's possible Allen winds up winning the starting job for Week 1.

"We're not going to rush him, but you know if he somehow wins the job, he wins it," Beane said. "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. AJ [McCarron] and Nathan [Peterman] are a long way ahead just getting in here with [offensive coordinator] Brian [Daboll] when the offseason conditioning program started." 

The Bills traded two second-round selections to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to move up from No. 12 to No. 7 to select Allen on Thursday in Arlington, Texas. The Wyoming product was considered the most polarizing prospect in the 2018 class.

A 6'5", 237-pounder with a rocket arm, Allen physically resembles the prototypical NFL quarterback but lacks a track record of performing like one. He did not complete 60 percent of his passes in any full season of high school or college football. He finished his Wyoming career with a pedestrian 5,066 yards and 44 touchdowns against 21 interceptions; his 6.7 yards per pass in 2017 is a major concern for someone who purportedly specializes in the deep ball.

"My goal is to help this team win football games, whether that's being the starter day one, game six, game ten, a year from now, two years from now, or just being a backup to AJ or Nate," Allen said. "That's what I'm going to be; I'm going to be the best teammate possible." 

The Bills signed McCarron to a two-year contract earlier this offseason, though all parties knew drafting a quarterback was likely.

McCarron spent his first four NFL seasons as Andy Dalton's backup with the Cincinnati Bengals. He's thrown for just 920 yards and six touchdowns against two picks in that timeframe, starting three games—all in the 2015 season.