NFL Rookie of the Year? Josh Allen is already generating buzz
It’s still May and training camp hasn’t even started yet, but that hasn’t stopped some from looking ahead to postseason awards for the 2018 season.
Of course, Vegas has the odds for the 2018 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year — Giants running back Saquon Barkley is the heavy favorite — but media members are already prognosticating as well.
NBC’s Chris Simms went out on a somewhat shaky limb and made his preseason choice for the award.
It’s no surprise that the former quarterback picked a fellow quarterback, but it is a surprise that Simms named Josh Allen as the player most likely to be Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Chris Simms picks #JoshAllen as rookie of the year! pic.twitter.com/PS126YKqNq
— Joe D (@dcbillsfan) May 14, 2018
“I might get some pushback here,” Simms said. “There’s people who think he’s going to be a bust. I have tremendous confidence in this kid’s talent, and I think he is going to be the starter from day one.
“This is a Buffalo Bills football team that was a good football team that I think has a good support system around him. They should be able to run the football. They’re going to be able to protect him. Weapons on the outside are not great, but I do think within that offense and some of the things we talked about, their defense being good, I think he can have a good enough year statistically and wins wise to where he’s in this conversation for Rookie of the Year.”
Simms admitted that Buffalo’s receiving core isn’t great, but he still picked Allen to win the award, which would mean he puts up good numbers despite not getting much help outside.
Last season Tyrod Taylor failed to throw for 3,000 yards and had 14 touchdown passes compared to just four interceptions, and those numbers got him run out of town.
But if Allen duplicates that exact stat line, he might win Rookie of the Year given that the bar is a bit different for first-year players vs. veterans like Taylor.
There was a time when quarterbacks were barely mentioned in the Rookie of the Year talk as most sat on the bench during their rookie seasons.
From 1957 to 2003, only one quarterback — the Bills’ Dennis Shaw in 1970 — won the award.
But since the 2004 season, seven quarterbacks have claimed the trophy. Allen is certainly in the right era to at least have a shot at winning the award.
While Allen would like to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award, he did lose in an Instagram story during the annual NFL Players Association Rookie Premiere.
Allen and Nyheim Hines of the Colts showed off their Fortnite knowledge and their lack of dance moves by busting out the “Take the L” dance from the video game.
https://twitter.com/BuffFanatics/status/997937648428814336
Something tells me that Jim Brown and Len Dawson weren’t doing the same dance back during their 1957 rookie class photo shoot, but we’re in a different era.
Bills fans are hoping that “Taking the L” doesn’t become a regular thing for Allen and his teammates this season.
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