When the Bills traded up in the 2018 NFL Draft to land Josh Allen, he was viewed as a project. The Wyoming quarterback had a massive arm and great mobility, but there were concerns about whether he would be accurate enough to succeed at the NFL level.
Allen has proven that he is a capable NFL starter. He has led the Bills to a 63-30 record in 93 career starts while turning a downtrodden Buffalo team into a perennial playoff contender.
Even so, Allen hasn't earned the respect of the entire NFL. The 28-year-old still has his doubters who believe he is overrated. The latest example comes from a poll of his peers in which he earned an ignominious honor.
Here's a look at what NFL players think of Josh Allen.
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Is Josh Allen overrated?
Allen was voted the NFL's most overrated quarterback in an anonymous survey of NFL players conducted by ESPN.
The vote was tightly contested, but Allen garnered 11 of the 103 votes from the surveyed players. Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa each finished one vote back of the Bills passer.
Below are the results of that survey question, per ESPN.
| Rank | Player | Votes |
| 1 | Josh Allen | 11 |
| 2 | Jalen Hurts | 10 |
| Tua Tagovailoa | 10 | |
| 4 | Justin Herbert | 9 |
| 5 | Trevor Lawrence | 8 |
| 6 | Deshaun Watson | 7 |
| 7 | Kyler Murray | 6 |
| 8 | Brock Purdy | 6 |
Why did so many players select Allen as the most overrated quarterback in the NFL?
"Too many turnovers," one NFC West player told ESPN.
That's a fair criticism of Allen when breaking down his stats and performance.
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Josh Allen stats
Allen has turned the ball over a league-high 102 times since entering the league in 2018. He has thrown at least nine interceptions each season and logged a career-worst 18 in 2023.
Below is a full breakdown of Allen's passing stats:
| Year | Games | Comp. % | Passing yards | Pass TDs | INTs | Rating |
| 2018 | 12 | 52.8 | 2,074 | 10 | 12 | 67.9 |
| 2019 | 16 | 58.8 | 3,089 | 20 | 9 | 85.3 |
| 2020 | 16 | 69.2 | 4,544 | 37 | 10 | 107.2 |
| 2021 | 17 | 63.3 | 4,407 | 36 | 15 | 92.2 |
| 2022 | 16 | 63.3 | 4,283 | 35 | 14 | 96.6 |
| 2023 | 17 | 66.5 | 4,306 | 29 | 18 | 92.2 |
And here is a look at his career rushing stats:
| Year | Carries | Yards | TDs |
| 2018 | 89 | 631 | 8 |
| 2019 | 109 | 510 | 9 |
| 2020 | 102 | 421 | 8 |
| 2021 | 122 | 763 | 6 |
| 2022 | 124 | 762 | 7 |
| 2023 | 111 | 524 | 15 |
While criticism of Allen's turnovers is fair, it's worth noting that Allen is a prolific dual-threat quarterback. That's why he was also one of the top vote-getters in another ESPN survey question asking players to rank the NFL's top three quarterbacks.
He finished fourth in those rankings behind Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow.
Thus, it would appear that the opinion of Allen's skill set is mixed. Some believe he is overrated while others believe he is one of the NFL's top five quarterbacks.
The truth may be somewhere in the middle based on his 2023 performance. Allen graded out as a top-three quarterback based on his QBR and PFF grade while his passer rating placed him closer to the league average because of his interception woes.
| Stat | Total | NFL rank |
| Passer rating | 92.2 | 16th of 32 |
| QBR | 69.6 | 3rd of 32 |
| PFF Grade | 91.2 | 1st of 38 |
Allen will look to quiet his doubters in 2024 as the Bills hope to mount their first Super Bowl run since 1994.