Josh Allen Gets A New Team In Buffalo To Chase Success His Previous Bills Squad Didn't Reach

The names and faces around Josh Allen are different and fresh, so it's clear to the Buffalo Bills quarterback that what he's seeing is that what other veteran quarterbacks told him would happen if he played long enough.

"Having talks with some of the long-time vets in this game, and understanding they may have been on the same team, but they really played with three or four different teams," Allen told reporters Tuesday after an OTA session.

Allen knows those latter-day veterans continued playing for the same franchise. But the teammates, the rosters changed. So the teams they played on were different, even if the uniform didn't change.

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 03: Quarterback Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills straight arms Joe Thomas #48 of the Houston Texans in the first quarter at Highmark Stadium on October 03, 2021 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)

The Familiar Bills Are Gone

Allen turned 28 years old on Tuesday. And perhaps that got him feeling a little nostalgic because so many of the players he called teammates the past few years are gone.

Buffalo's starting receivers from the past few years either left in free agency (Gabe Davis) or were traded this offseason (Stefon Diggs).

Longtime center and good friend Mitch Morese was released and is now in Jacksonville.

The starting safety tandem of Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer from the past half decade, two defensive leaders, also are no longer on the team. 

Stuff is going to be way different for the Bills in 2024 because the squad that, along with Allen, set an annual goal of winning the Super Bowl simply didn't deliver.

Those Bills of 2020ish to 2023 spent a lot of time as popular and logical Super Bowl favorites. But they mostly disappointed beyond winning four AFC East titles in a row.

Because winning the division isn't really what mattered most.

Jan 15, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs (14) takes the field before the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 2024 AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Greats Succeeded With Different Casts

Bills mafia would likely cringe reading that truth. But that doesn't change the fact it's true.

And the proof is general manager Brandon Beane this offseason hit the reset button to replace a group of players that were becoming too old or too expensive, too much of a pain, or too often in pain and injured.

So Josh Allen's first Bills team has passed into history.

This inexorable transition, by the way, is not unique. It's actually the natural order of things for franchise quarterbacks.

Many outstanding, accomplished quarterbacks have seen their surrounding teammates willingly move on or be forced out. The question has been what the quarterback does with the next bunch that replaces them.

Joe Montana did a great job with his multiple teams in San Francisco. He went from throwing to Dwight Clark to Jerry Rice, and won Super Bowls with both at the start and then the end of the 1980s.

Tom Brady won six Super Bowls with the Patriots. But while he had all that success during a 20-year run with one franchise, the 2001 Patriots looked and played nothing like the 2018 Patriots that culminated the dynastic run – except for Brady, of course.

Mahomes Rewarded Changes

Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City is having similar success with multiple iterations of the Chiefs. 

Mahomes won by throwing the football to Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins in 2020. Then Hill was traded and Watkins faded away, so Mahomes also won with the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster and a revamped offensive line.

Then Mahomes won it all again last season with another revamped line, other new outside receivers and, this time, a stifling defense.

Change happens. But it doesn't always bring success.

Drew Brees had two or three different sets of teammates. He won one Super Bowl. Aaron Rodgers had three different sets of teammates and while he won the Super Bowl with Jordy Nelson, he didn't quite get there with Davante Adams. 

So where does that leave Allen now after his first iteration of the Bills failed to reach, much less win the Super Bowl?

Foxborough, MA - December 1: New England Patriots LB Mack Wilson Sr. tries to sack Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen. The Patriots lost to the Bills, 24-10. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Allen Trying To Be His Best

"I'm going into Year 7 now, which is crazy to think about," Allen said. "But I feel like I'm still getting better, I'm still learning a lot. I'm trying to be the best version of myself when I step into this locker room. 

"And, again, there's a lot to learn and a lot to grow and I feel that's what we're doing." 

Allen isn't bemoaning change, by the way. He seems to be embracing it during those offseason teaching sessions, either because it's genuine or he simply has no choice.

He knows it's a "kind of a clean slate," as he said, for the 2024 Bills.

"Just approaching it as best as I can," Allen said. "As the best leader as the best teammate that I can be for the Buffalo Bills. And, ultimately, as the best quarterback that I can be."