Broncos fans can stop worrying about the team passing on Josh Allen

How many times have you heard a Denver Broncos say "I can't believe we didn't take Josh Allen"? Ever since the 2018 NFL Draft, where the Broncos held the No. 5 overall pick, it's been a thing.

That year, the Broncos needed a quarterback. That should not be debated. That draft class had Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Allen, Josh Rosen and Lamar Jackson, who all went in the first round, in that order.

But as far as the Broncos are concerned, it has been the team passing up the quarterback from Wyoming that has always been talked about. Instead, the Broncos used their first-round pick on Bradley Chubb.

Allen went two picks later to the Buffalo Bills, and the rest is history.

Coming into that draft, Allen started moving up the board despite not being a guy who was really talked about much in the college ranks. He was drawing comparisons to John Elway but Elway, who was Denver's general manager at the time, chose not to take him.

Despite a slow start in Buffalo, Allen has become one of the league's better quarterbacks, at least from a statistical standpoint and fans have lamented the fact that the team could have gotten him and didn't.

So what if the Broncos did take Allen? What would be different? In my opinion, not much.

As talented as Allen is, he has yet to win much of anything in Buffalo. Sure, he's taken his team the playoffs five years in a row but he has yet to even make it to the AFC Championship Game. On top of that, he's been knocked out of the playoffs by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs three times.

That has been with a much more talented roster in Buffalo than he would have had in Denver, so what would have been any different? He would likely just have even more losses to Mahomes because he would be in the same division.

Heck, this season he couldn't even beat the Broncos at home.

Not all of the Bills' playoff failures can be placed at the feet of Allen, but he's not willing the team to wins either. Things would have been no different had he been drafted by the Broncos, who would now have to be wondering the same thing Buffalo will be wondering this offseason — is he worth the money?

Allen's cap number for the 2024 season: $47.0 million.