BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- He may be biased, but Bills general manager Brandon Beane did not mince his words when asked about an anonymous NFL executive calling quarterback Josh Allen overrated.
"There's idiots everywhere," Beane said matter-of-factly Wednesday after the team's first training camp practice. "You try to ignore this stuff, but Josh is going into year seven and there's still the naysayers. I don't get it. If I was going to use rated, I would say underrated before I'd say overrated."
The overrated comment stems from an ESPN survey of NFL execs, scouts and coaches that ranked the top 10 quarterbacks around the league, in which Allen slotted in at No. 3 behind Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes. Despite praise from others surveyed, the detracting anonymous executive went on to say Allen "is underdeveloped at winning at the line of scrimmage, tends to lock on to targets, more of a thrower than precision passer, forces throws into traffic."
"I just say if you're not going to put your name on it, we really shouldn't validate it," Beane said.
"I'm biased, but I'm tired of hearing it. ... No one is God or a robot, but Josh's positives don't even come close to the negatives. For what he's done for this team, for what he's done in this league and his own accomplishments, to say he's overrated and to point out a flaw here or there, that's ignorant."
Away from the outside noise, the Bills offense had a solid first day at training camp Wednesday, as Allen connected with both new and old targets during red zone drills throughout the morning.
After getting some time to connect with a retooled wide receiver room during the offseason, Allen has his mind on continuing to improve during training camp.
"Everybody understands the standard we have set here," Allen said. "We understand in OTAs and in meetings that training camp is for our team to build our identity physically, mentally and emotionally, and spiritually for that matter. ... There's one job to get done and that's to win a Super Bowl, and putting in the work in the spring and the summer is going to pay dividends."
The Bills are back at it again at 9:45 a.m. Thursday for their second training camp practice of the summer.
Adam Gorski is a Buffalo native who joined the WIVB News 4 team in 2022. You can find more of his work here.
