The offseason of Josh Hines-Allen has yet to see a contract extension for the face of Buffalo's future.
In due time, his coach said Wednesday, but not before joining the masses in raving about Allen's development from 2018 to now.
"Josh has done such an incredible job. He's wired the right way, he puts in a lot of time and effort, I can tell you that, when he's away from us, honing his craft and the work he puts in with (private quarterbacks coach) Jordan Palmer," Bills coach Sean McDermott said Wednesday in an interview with NFL Network's Omar Ruiz and Steve Wyche. "So, every year that Josh has come back from the time off, he's gotten better and he's worked on a couple of aspects in particular of his game. So, this year has been no different, to this point. Now that he's been away from us and as we head into camp, I'm anxious to see how he looks again and how he's improved in the time that we've been apart here in the last four or five weeks."
That time will come before McDermott, Allen and the rest of the football world knows it. The contract, however, might take a little bit longer.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane finds himself in an interesting situation. Allen is coming off a season in which he blossomed into a quarterback with an outside shot at winning NFL Most Valuable Player. Though that award went to future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, Allen claimed his stake among the league's younger generation of signal-callers, leading Buffalo to a 13-3 mark and a trip to the AFC Championship Game.
His 2020 season was undoubtedly his best as a pro and a significant leap from where he'd stood at the end of the 2019 campaign. Now he just has to do it again.
For Beane, patience could prove to be wise -- or costly. Allen could regress, which obviously wouldn't be ideal for any of the parties involved, but would save the Bills money (while also showering uncertainty on the franchise), or he could follow his trend established in 2020 and possibly even win MVP. That's a best-case scenario in terms of franchise goals, but also potentially a bank-clearing one.
Of course, Beane and the Bills could just strike a deal in the very near future and eliminate the chance of either outcome.
"Brandon mentioned that, I think at the end of the spring practice period there, and these things handle themselves," McDermott said of a potential extension for Allen. "They work themselves out when you got two parties that want to be together and have the same end goal in mind. Josh is a great, young talent and he fits so well with Buffalo and the city and the town and the people of Buffalo. So, I firmly believe it's gonna work itself out."
For now, it will remain a topic that receives attention. Buffalo has the security of Allen's fifth-year option, which the team picked up in early May, meaning it isn't quite up against a deadline. The Bills have the luxury of time and can exercise patience if they so desire.
It could simply be a matter of finances, or of needing to know for certain that Allen's 2020 wasn't a fluke. It sure didn't look like one, but we won't know exactly how Buffalo truly feels -- regardless of how much it gushes over Allen's stellar campaign -- until the ink dries on the dotted line.
