Yes, Josh Allen plays for the Buffalo Bills.
But in Wyoming, we'll recognize him as a Cowboy first. And our favorite Cowboy just took home his first most valuable player (MVP) award in the NFL.
Sure, if it were up to Josh, he'd rather be playing on Sunday than getting this award but it's a great consolation prize after a great season. And he's got plenty of time to make it to Super Sunday.
He did get the recognition he deserved on Thursday night when the highest award in the National Football League was presented to him by another MVP, two-time winner Kurt Warner.
There's a lot of similarities between the two. No one really believed in either of them. Dick Vermeil saw something special in Warner. And Wyoming's Craig Bohl spotted something in Allen.
That makes winning the award so much better. But Josh isn't an "I told you so" type of guy. He "tells you so" on the field. And that's all that matters.
Josh was Josh when he walked up to the stage. He was soft-spoken and reserved when he gave a short speech.
He first thanked God and then recognized the other MVP candidates, mentioning Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff, Bengals' quarterback Joe Burrow, Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson, and Eagles’ running back Saquon Barkley.
It was a very close contest — the closest since 2005.
Allen received 27 first-place votes while Jackson had 22. The final tally was 383 votes for Allen and 362 for Jackson.
Thank Yous
“I’d like to thank my parents,” Allen said. “I bet in my 20-plus years of playing football — going down to Pop Warner — I bet they’ve missed maybe 15 games in their entire life.”
He said his parents were so dedicated to supporting his “favorite teammates” mentioning his three siblings.
“Thank you for all the support, all the time, energy and money, wasted growing up going from meet, to game, to practice. I love you and I know you take a lot of pride in this as well,” he said, while his parents were tearing up in the audience.
Trash Talker Too
Allen also won the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award on Thursday night, which was interesting because in August of 2024, he was named “Biggest Trash Talker” in a preseason poll of anonymous players by ESPN.
CBS reports that Allen is the first MVP since Peyton Manning in 2008 to not have an All-Pro teammate.
Allen threw for 3,731 yards with 28 touchdowns. He also had only six interceptions in 2024 – a career low. On the ground, Allen had 531 rushing yards and 12 touchdown runs.
Jimmy Orr can be reached at jimmy@cowboystatedaily.com.
