The Bills will go as far as Josh Allen can take them. But they need to be ready for the possibility of dog paddling for a couple of weeks without him.
This year, the well-traveled Kyle Allen joined the Buffalo depth chart behind Josh Allen, along with veteran Matt Barkley. Given Kyle Allen’s flashes of excellent in the past, the move was met with optimism.
His performance in the team’s Friday scrimmage was met with pessimism.
Consider this, from Ryan Talbot of NYup.com: “Kyle Allen struggled mightily at Highmark Stadium on Friday night and much of it had to do with botched snaps. He had around four mishandled snaps at Friday’s scrimmage and wasn’t particularly sharp passing the ball. He had one nice touchdown pass to Trent Sherfield, but the play had been whistled and stopped by the official in the backfield. Kyle Allen seemed like a fine No. 2 quarterback option at the time of his signing, but he has left much to be desired.”
The broader question is whether the Bills will keep three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. It’s required, in order to take advantage of the new rule allowing a third quarterback to dress on game day.
And if they plan to keep three, will Kyle Allen be one of them? There’s still a long way to go, but his performance in the scrimmage raises the stakes for his looming preseason efforts.
Kyle Allen has 23 regular-season appearances and 19 starts, with 26 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions. Undrafted out of Texas A&M in 2018, Allen has played for the Panthers, the Commanders, and the Texans.
