Josh Allen lost his top target when the Buffalo Bills traded Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans. Two years ago, Tom Brady warned Allen that nothing lasts forever.
On June 1, 2022, Brady teamed with Aaron Rodgers to golf against Allen and Patrick Mahomes in The Match. During the exhibition, the legendary quarterback addressed a cardboard cutout of his teammate at the time, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mik Evans.
He then noted that Rodgers and Mahomes both lost their star wideouts that offseason before turning his attention to the Bills signal-caller.
“Who caught Aaron? Davante [Adams] left him, and Tyreek [Hill] left you, Patrick. Josh, don’t worry. Someone’s going to leave you, too,” Brady said.
Allen responded by embracing and saying, “I love you” to a cutout of Diggs.
Brady is hardly a physic for telling Allen that the Bills will not maintain the exact same roster for his entire career. He didn’t specify Diggs or guess how and when the star receiver would exit.
Giving Brady credit here is the equivalent of wondering how a fortune cookie knew you’d face a difficult decision or promising opportunity in the future.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion simply knew from experience that NFL roster turnover is inevitable. While Brady joined a long and fruitful connection with Rob Gronkowski, he only got to play two full seasons with Randy Moss.
Allen accrued 3,089 passing yards with a 58.8 completion percentage in 2020 before the Bills acquired Diggs from the Minnesota Vikings. The quarterback’s career took off alongside the star wideout.
In the last four seasons, Allen tallied the second-most passing yards (17,540) and touchdowns (137) behind Mahomes. He finished three of those campaigns fifth or higher in the MVP voting while steering Buffalo to four straight AFC East championships.
However, Allen will face a difficult path to sustaining that success in 2024.
Buffalo’s No. 2 receiver, Gabe Davis, signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. That leaves Khalil Shakir as Allen’s only returning wide receiver who exceeded 150 yards last season.
Brady spent good chunks of his New England Patriots career without an elite wide receiver. Allen must prove he’s up to the task of leading a diminished Bills offense.