Bills GM compares Josh Allen’s leadership style to former All-Pro LB

There has been much discussion recently among Buffalo faithful regarding Josh Allen’s leadership ability; journalist Tim Graham recently wrote a piece for The Athletic in which he shared that Bills owners were looking for “more executive behavior from Allen,” a sentiment that isn’t necessarily an indictment of the quarterback’s leadership ability, but an indication that he needs to evolve.

Such an expectation is entirely natural. Allen, after all, is the face of the franchise, an otherworldly signal-caller around whom the team has centered its on-field philosophy and off-field marketing. Wanting a player making more than $40 million a season to be the team’s unquestioned leader isn’t necessarily a far-fetched ask.

Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane isn’t just confident Allen can take on a larger leadership role, he believes it’s something he’s naturally growing into. As Allen gains experience in the league and matures, he naturally becomes a more trusted voice in the locker room as the roster around him changes and gets younger; the passer becomes more confident as a leader as he progresses in his career. In a recent appearance on the site Buffalo Plus In his podcast, Beane compared Allen’s evolution into a prominent leadership role to that of former NFL Defensive Player of the Year Luke Kuechly, a linebacker Beane watched develop into one of the league’s best players during his time with the Carolina Panthers.

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“We had Luke Kuechly on the other side of the ball at Carolina,” Beane said. “There’s a lot of things about their leadership styles that remind me of each other. Early on at Carolina, we had, on the defensive end, we had a Thomas Davis, a Charles Johnson, guys that were established players. Luke came in and by the second year, guys were saying, ‘Hey, this is your defense. Lead.’ He was such a good (guy) that he didn’t want to step on other people’s toes. Even if you told him, ‘Luke, speak at halftime. If you need to rip somebody’s ass, rip them.’ He just didn’t want to do it.”

“But over time, as the team and the defense got younger, it got easier. I think that’s how you’ve seen Josh year after year, it’s just all of a sudden every year he gets a year older and some of the older guys leave and you bring some youth or some new veterans into the team, that’s how we do it. I think naturally, you’ll see another year where he’s maybe a little more vocal with his teammates. Not just offensively, but even with some of the defensive leaders that we lost out there.”

Allen’s leadership ability has never been a legitimate concern, as his teammates seem to adore him. That said, his natural growth into a larger leadership role is encouraging to see; stalwart offensive tackle Dion Dawkins has already seen signs of Allen’s evolution, noting that he’s becoming a more “verbal” leader while also describing him as a “barker.”

Allen will need to be the unquestioned leader of Buffalo’s offense if the unit is to continue to function during the 2024 campaign. The team parted ways with veteran wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis in the offseason, both leaving behind 241 vacant targets and roughly 2,000 yards of production; the team’s revamped receiving corps heading into the fall — led by Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel and Keon Coleman — is talented but unproven. Allen and the offense as a whole have looked healthy in the first few practices of training camp, suggesting the quarterback’s ascension to a larger leadership role is on track.

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