Superman just got paid.
2024 NFL MVP Josh Allen was rewarded handsomely for his brilliance Sunday with a contract extension that is reportedly worth $330 million, which would make him among the league’s highest-paid players.
The Buffalo Bills announced the agreement, which adds two extra years to Allen’s contract which commits the 28-year-old in through the 2030 campaign. ESPN.com reported the deal’s value and includes an NFL-record $250 million guaranteed.
It is the largest guaranteed total given to an NFL player, shattering the previous mark of Cleveland Browns embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson, who received $230 million guaranteed. He will likely miss the entire 2025 season.
The Bills did not release the value of the contract.
The extension comes following Allen’s seventh NFL season in which he became the Bills third player to earn NFL MVP, and first since running back Thurman Thomas did so in 1991. The new deal eclipses Allen’s previous contract, a six-year $258 million deal he inked with Buffalo in August 2021.
Allen has established a reputation as one of the league’s elite quarterbacks and re-written nearly every franchise single-season passing and scoring record at his position. In doing so and delivering the goods, he has quieted the naysayers and overcome the many questions and criticisms he faced coming out of college for being considered a raw and inaccurate player when Buffalo selected him with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2018 draft out of Wyoming.
Embed from Getty Images“I love Josh and so proud of what he’s done, and so, I could be here all day talking about how great he is and what he’s done for our team and where he belongs in the pecking order of all that stuff,” general manager Brandon Beane said at the end of the 2024 season. “He and I have a great relationship. We talk a lot. When the dust settles, before we’re ever really talking to his agent or his agents calling me, like, Josh and I will have those conversations [about a potential extension], holistically about the team, things like that. And I’m not saying it will happen, I’m not saying it won’t happen. … There’ll be a time and place, and not saying we will, but not ruling it out either.”
Even more important, Allen has no doubt and solidified what had been a turnstile position in Buffalo since Hall of Famer Jim Kelly retired 29 years ago following the 1996 season. The Bills under Allen lead like a coach on the field have taken over the AFC East Division and won five consecutive titles and are on a six-year playoff run.
“Josh Allen’s leadership, his consistent leadership, was the biggest reason why we did what we did this season. So, anybody that tries to say otherwise, I know better,” coach Sean McDermott said at the end of the season. “I’ve seen it, and him now doing that every season for us, not an easy undertaking.”
Allen’s MVP honor came during a season in which he carried the team and essentially did more with what was considered less receiving talent around him. Taking on an “Everybody Eats”
mentality, Buffalo ran away hid with the AFC East by locking up the division with five games remaining in a 13-win season and after the team traded No. 1 receiving option Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans after some internal strife and lost No. 2 receiver Gabe Davis in free agency.
Though Allen failed to top 4,000 yards passing for the first time since 2019, the signal caller enjoyed his most efficient seasons with a career-low six interceptions, a year after throwing a career-worst 18. Allen finished with 28 touchdowns passing, scored another 12 on the ground and was credited with a touchdown receiving after completing a pass to Amari Cooper, who then lateralled the ball back to the quarterback.
Allen will go into 2025 with continuity, as coordinator Joe Brady, who replaced Ken Dorsey, enters his second full season in the role. Allen is coming off his second AFC Title Game appearance and going into his eighth season looking for his first Super Bowl appearance after going 0-4 against the Kansas City Chiefs and Mahomes in the postseason.
“We’re going to continue to turn every stone over and cross the T’s, dot the I’s and do whatever we can to try to bring a Lombardi back here to Western New York,” Allen said at the end of the season.
