As the Buffalo Bills prepare for the 2026 NFL season, Bills Wire will take a look at the most important contributors on their roster. The team has some cornerstone players who will be returning for another shot at bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Buffalo, and they'll have help from some new additions as well.
Leading up to the season, we will be counting down the top-30 most important players on the roster. We'll recap their 2025 season, look ahead to what they'll offer in 2026, and tackle the most pressing questions surrounding them this coming year.
Next on the countdown is Josh Allen.
Background
Position: Quarterback
Age at start of season: 30
Experience: ninth year
2026 cap hit: $44,228,000
2025 recap
Josh Allen followed up his 2024 MVP season with another quality year
in 2025, finishing third in MVP voting while recording 39 total touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and 4,427 total yards. While Allen's passing yards have gone down in the last couple of years as the Bills have established the run more, he has become more efficient as a passer. He set career-highs in 2025 in yards per attempt (8.0) and completion percentage (69.3), while posting the second-best passer rating of his career (102.2). Allen was sacked a career-high 40 times in 2025, however, a night-and-day difference from his 2024 season where he was only sacked 14 times.
Over the two playoff games at Jacksonville and Denver, Allen accounted for 655 total yards (556 passing, 99 rushing), 6 total touchdowns (4 passing, 2 rushing), and 4 turnovers (2 INTs, 2 fumbles lost). Allen had only committed six turnovers in 14 career playoff games before the Denver game where he committed four. Still, the offense averaged 28.5 points per game in the postseason, which led the AFC.
2026 outlook
It's a new beginning for Allen in 2026 in a couple different ways. He became a father this offseason, saying that he's had a "change in perspective," and he'll also be playing for a new head coach in Joe Brady.
“I do feel this is going to be the best version of myself," Allen said early this offseason.
Allen will have a lot of familiar faces around him in 2026. Brady returns as the play caller, four of the five starting offensive linemen return from last year, and all of their core skill players are back. And, he's got another weapon now in wide receiver D.J. Moore added to the mix.
Biggest question: Will there be more volume to passing attack?
Allen has thrown the ball less than 500 times in four of his eight seasons, his first two (2018, 2019) and his last two (2024, 2025). The Bills have leaned into the ground game and James Cook heavily since Joe Brady took over as the full-time offensive coordinator (late 2023 though 2025).
Is the addition of D.J. Moore on the outside enough of a reason for Brady and Allen to throw the ball around more? It could be that simple, as Allen hasn't had a true number-one "X" receiver since Stefon Diggs departed. We will also know soon just how much say former head coach Sean McDermott had in the offensive philosophy.
30 most important Bills of 2026
Check back as we continue the countdown on our list of the 30 most important Bills ahead of the 2026 season.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: 30 most important Bills players of 2026: No. 1 Josh Allen
