The rest of the NFL just ended the long-standing debate between Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes
Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes have been this generation’s best quarterback rivalry. While Mahomes dominates in the hardware, Allen just took the top spot according to multiple NFL executives, coaches, and personnel.
Josh Allen is the NFL’s top-rated quarterback heading into the 2026 season, earning the No. 1 spot in ESPN’s annual poll of league evaluators, scouts, general managers, and coaches. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN conducts the poll each year, and for the first time since it began in 2020, the Buffalo Bills quarterback sits atop the list. The ranking validates what Allen proved throughout the 2025 season: he can carry an offense with limited surrounding talent and still be the most dangerous player on the field.
Josh Allen 2025 stats
- 4,247 total yards
- 39 total touchdowns.
- 69.3% completion percentage.
Allen carried Buffalo through a challenging 2025 season
The truth is, Josh Allen didn’t have much help last year. Outside of running back James Cook, the Bills lacked consistent offensive weaponry. The Keon Coleman situation created instability at wide receiver. Tight end Dalton Kincaid has been a solid contributor but hasn’t developed into the game-changing threat Buffalo hoped for. The offensive line was inconsistent throughout the year.
None of that mattered. Allen was the Buffalo Bills’ offense, and the evaluators who participated in the poll recognized it. He remains one of the only players in league history who is equally dynamic as a passer and a runner. Defenses can load the box with eight or nine defenders, dedicate a spy to Allen, roll coverage, or dial up disguised cat blitzes on the back end, and he still finds ways to beat them.
As one executive told Fowler, “There’s no player in the NFL who is unstoppable the way Josh Allen is on any given Sunday.”
The turnovers are no longer defining his game
What separates the current version of Allen from the quarterback who entered the league is ball security. Early in his career, turnovers plagued him. He threw too many interceptions, fumbled the football, and played with a recklessness that undermined his talent. That version of Allen is largely gone.
The evaluators noted that while the turnover bug did resurface briefly against the Broncos, Allen has cleaned up that part of his game to a degree that changed his entire evaluation. He went from a boom-or-bust quarterback to a player who controls games without giving them away. That maturation, combined with his physical tools, is what pushed him past the rest of the league’s signal-callers.
What the ranking means for Allen and the AFC competition
Some might argue that Patrick Mahomes’ torn ACL played a role in Allen ascending to the top of the poll. Regardless, Allen earned this on his own merits. He has been the reason Buffalo has stayed afloat in the AFC East and in the broader AFC picture, and that sustained excellence is what evaluators rewarded.
Buffalo added wide receiver DJ Moore and is banking on Coleman’s return as a reclamation project, which means the supporting cast around Allen could improve considerably heading into next season.
The bottom line is that Josh Allen without help was already the league’s most complete quarterback. Josh Allen with real weapons around him is a problem every AFC contender will have to solve in a different way entirely.