Former University of Wyoming football star quarterback Josh Allen got a nice pay raise from the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Allen, 28, was rewarded with a contract extension worth $330 million, including an NFL record $250 million guaranteed, making him one of the highest-paid players in the history of the league.
The Bills announced the six-season agreement, the details of which were first reported by ESPN. The agreement adds a two-year extension to Allen's previous contract that ran through 2028. The extension serves as sad news for Denver Broncos fans that want Allen to join their team after the franchise passed up on drafting Allen when it had the chance.
Allen’s is the largest guarantee total ever given to an NFL player, surpassing the $231 million guaranteed that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott got last year.
Allen was drafted by the Bills out of UW with the No. 7 pick in 2018.
Hailing from Firebaugh, California, Allen, a junior college transfer, quarterbacked the Wyoming Cowboys to two consecutive eight-win seasons, two bowl games and an appearance in the Mountain West Championship game in 2016. The two-time team captain scored 57 touchdowns and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social science.
“Josh is a great example of what UW is all about,” said Chad Baldwin, a spokesperson for the university, responding to his record deal. “He made the very best of the opportunity UW gave him, developed his skills and became an MVP through determination and hard work. We are proud of his accomplishments.”
Wyoming Perspective
Allen will now make more per year than the entire 2024 budget for the UW athletic department, which was $53.6 million.
Over the course of his six-year contract, Allen will make more than half of the entire budget for the university in the 2025 fiscal year, which was $637.5 million.
With the new contract, Allen becomes among the school’s wealthiest living alumni, likely only rivaled by former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Allen was named to the UW Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame late last month and will be inducted at a ceremony Sept. 5.
UW spent $2 million for a 30-second TV commercial during this year’s Super Bowl, celebrating Allen and his connection to the University of Wyoming, which aired in 25 TV markets around the country and in Wyoming.
Legendary Numbers
The total value of Allen’s new contract ranks second behind Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, who signed a 10-year, $450 million deal in 2020.
The pay raise also bumps Allen from the 14th highest annual salary to the second highest in the NFL at $55 million per year.
Allen has had the most successful NFL career of any former UW football player. He had another standout season in 2024, and was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, the league’s highest honor for an individual player.
He also became the first player in NFL history to record at least 25 touchdown passes and 10 touchdown runs with fewer than 10 interceptions in a season. He’s orchestrated 260 touchdowns in his career via passing or rushing, the most in a player's first seven seasons in NFL history, and 29 more than the next-closest player, Mahomes.
According to Sports Illustrated, Allen owns a home in Buffalo, 31 additional acres of land in New York and two homes in California, including a $7.2 million beachfront property.
Also Great For UW
Allen’s meteoric rise as an elite NFL player also benefits the University of Wyoming, said Cody Tucker, a Cheyenne native and the founder and editor of 7220Sports.com, a sports-news website that covers the Cowboys.
“This is the first starting quarterback from the University of Wyoming in NFL history,” Tucker said, adding that what’s happening now with Allen “may be a once-in-a-lifetime — once-in-a-generation — situation. It’s pretty incredible.”
Since his two years playing for UW and his success in the NFL, Allen has been nothing but a positive PR bonanza for the university, he said.
“He’s been a PR machine for UW in the past couple of months, too,” Tucker said. “Every time Josh’s name is in the news, the University of Wyoming follows, and it’s been really nice attention.”
The connection between Allen and UW is unique, Tucker said.
“It seems really special. When you talk about Joe Montana, you always talk about him being the former 49ers quarterback, you don’t talk about him being a great Notre Dame quarterback,” he said. “With John Elway, it’s not that he’s a great Stanford quarterback, or Dan Marino that he was great at Pitt.
“But with Josh Allen, it’s always brought up, and it’s a great thing for the university and the state.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
