Why Bills QB Josh Allen Is This Hall of Fame DE’s Favorite Player

For a neutral fan, it’s hard not to have an affinity for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

He’s simply an electric player to watch, a 7-foot human wrecking ball who’s as likely to run over or through a defender as he is to throw the ball over his head and into his target’s arms. He’s an affable personality who’s simply dynamite on the football field, as evidenced by his NFL-record four consecutive seasons of throwing 40-plus touchdowns.

He’s one of the faces of the NFL, a player universally beloved by the Buffalo faithful who has earned his fair share of supporters from other fan bases. Among his neutral admirers is pass rusher Charles Haley, a former defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys who won two of his five career Super Bowl rings against the Bills. In a recent appearance on FanDuel’s Up and AdamsHaley didn’t hold back in her praise for Allen, comically expressing why he is her current favorite player.

Related: Bills not in NFL experts’ top 10 rosters for 2024 season

“That white guy in Buffalo who’s a quarterback, that’s my buddy,” Haley said. “That white guy. Jesus Christ, oh my God. Jesus Christ. You look at that brother? Oh, I forgot he was white. But you look at that brother, he goes down there, you see what Josh does? He runs at them and gets up (and leans) over them. But I would have tapped him on the shoulder if I was playing and said, ‘Hey, you’re never going to do that (with me).”

That’s a significant accolade from one of the greatest pass rushers in NFL history. A five-time Pro Bowl selection, Haley recorded 100.5 sacks during his illustrious career. Having played with signal-caller Joe Montana and Troy Aikman and against countless other historic passers, Haley knows a good quarterback when he sees one — and Allen ticks all the boxes.

Allen may be on his way to joining Haley in Canton if he continues to build the gaudy stat lines he’s consistently displayed since emerging during the 2020 NFL season. He’ll need to string together several more seasons of otherworldly production (and a few major individual and team accolades wouldn’t hurt either) in order to have a compelling case; his path to a gold jacket will begin again next week when the Bills kick off their 2024 training camp at St. John Fisher University in Rochester.

— Get free Bills coverage from Buffalo Bills on SI —