Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen won't play in preseason opener

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen will not play in the team’s preseason opener against the Lions on Friday, according to head coach Sean McDermott.

“It’s going to be kind of on an individual basis so a number of the starters won’t play,” McDermott said in his press conference. “There will be some starters that do play and then it’ll go from there, really.”

As Pro Football Talk noted, when asked specifically about Allen, McDermott said, “No, he will not play.”

Josh Allen signs significant extension

Earlier this week, the Bills’ quarterback signed a massive $258 million contract extension, with $100 million guaranteed at signing. It’s clear McDermott and the Buffalo decision-makers are more than pleased with their young signal caller’s production and don’t want to risk a potential injury in an early-August preseason game.

Allen, who just turned 25 this year, rewrote the Bills single-season record book in just about every passing category in his third NFL season in 2020. He broke single-season franchise records for touchdown passes (37), completions (396), completion percentage (69.2), 300-yard games (8), passing yards (4,544) and total touchdowns (46) as he finished runner-up to Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers for league MVP honors.

He was also named Second Team All-Pro and was selected to the Pro Bowl as he led the Bills all the way to the AFC title game after a 13-win regular season.

McDermott wasn’t clear on if his franchise quarterback will play in the remaining two preseason games.

“It’s kind of hard to project right now,” McDermott said. “For this one, we felt like it was important to take a good look at these young players in particular to give them their due. And this is the first time that with the cuts each week basically after each game, we want to make sure we have a good handle on who we have and what we need to do going forward.”

McDermott’s approach is far more conservative than other NFL teams. Washington Football head coach Ron Rivera announced earlier this week that all of his starters will play in Thursday night’s preseason debut vs. New England. Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians also mentioned Tom Brady will play in a series or two against the Bengals on Saturday.