Josh Allen Didn’t Declare For NFL Draft Early Because He Owed Coach Bohl Respect

Despite being projected to go as high as second in the 2017 NFL draft, Josh Allen played his senior year at the University of Wyoming because he felt he owed Coach Craig Bohl the respect to stay.

JO
Jimmy Orr

June 25, 20223 min read

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Here’s something you don’t hear every day in the world of professional athletics.

Appearing on a popular national sports program on Friday, former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen said he didn’t declare for the NFL draft his junior year because he thought he owed Cowboys football coach Craig Bohl the respect to stay.

Allen, who was subsequently drafted 7th overall the next year in the 2018 NFL draft, told ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan that he was aware if he declared in 2017, he would be drafted high — as high as number two overall.

But he couldn’t do it.

Astonished, the hosts asked him why.

“Coach Bohl was the only guy who stuck his neck out for me,” Allen said. “He came to my family, he came to my house in the middle of nowhere. I just felt I owed him the respect to come back for one more year.”

It took awhile for the hosts to process Allen’s answer. One said if loyalty was a component on the Madden football video game, Allen would have a score of 99 (the highest score possible).

It’s not as though Allen didn’t think about it. He said he did. In fact, he was leaning on leaving after his junior year after he saw mock drafts that had him as the second highest draft overall. That and he was getting numerous calls from agents.

When he tentatively made a decision to enter the NFL draft early, he couldn’t sleep that night. 

When Bohl called him the next morning, he declined to answer it because he was wrestling with the decision.

“I just couldn’t tell Coach Bohl no,” he said.

The conversation then turned to hypotheticals and they asked him if Bohl were to have been offered a more prolific job in Division One football, did he think the coach would have taken it despite Allen’s decision to come back.

Allen didn’t think so. He said Bohl had told him he was going to retire at the University of Wyoming and had just signed a contract extension the year before.

Lewan and Compton left impressed with Allen’s decision.

“That is a good guy,” Compton said. “That is a good guy move.”

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Jimmy Orr

Executive Editor

A third-generation Wyomingite, Jimmy Orr is the executive editor and co-founder of Cowboy State Daily.