NFL executive explains what happens when you get Josh Allen's A-game

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has done a lot of great things since entering the NFL with the seventh overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.

He's made a few Pro Bowls, and he was the NFL's MVP of the 2024 season. That campaign saw him throw for 3,731 yards and 21 touchdowns compared to just six interceptions. He also rushed for 531 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The scary thing for Allen's doubters, and he has some, is that those numbers weren't even the best of his career.

He's been an MVP candidate for several years in a row now because these are just things he does regularly. There is a version of the 6-foot-5, 237-pound quarterback that is simply unfair to play against. It's otherworldly to be as big and athletic as he is and to have his dual-threat abilities as a runner and passer.

That's why in a new survey of NFL executives, coaches and scouts, Allen is being ranked as the No. 1 quarterback in the league heading into the 2026 season.

"He's the most singularly unstoppable player at the position when you get his A-game," an anonymous general manager told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "And he has cut down on the turnovers the past two seasons."

Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen is unstoppable as his ceiling

Turnovers were always the one concern for Allen. He's big, strong and athletic and can do things on the football field that most humans can only dream of, but he came into the league with accuracy issues, and he's also been known to put the ball on the ground.

Yes, it comes with his physical style of running, but, for instance, he fumbled 13 times during the 2022 season.

He fumbled just five times in his MVP season, and in 2025, the fumbles were down to seven. That's still seven too many, but his career high for fumbles was 14, so the Bills will take it.

Allen's 10 interceptions were up from six in 2024, but that's a far cry from the 18 he threw in 2023.

"You live with him and die with him," an NFL coordinator told Fowler. "You can't get mad at him because he won a lot of games for you with a similar style and he was so good."

Including postseason games, Allen is 96-46 as the starter in Buffalo, and that's considering his growing pains.

Even at his worst, you'll take that all day and every day. At his best?

He's unstoppable.