The NFL has several intriguing games each week. On Sunday, the game of the week on paper has to be the Buffalo Bills taking on the Kansas City Chiefs. Josh Allen on one sideline, with Patrick Mahomes on the other. What else could fans ask for?
This matchup pits what many would argue are the top two young quarterbacks in the NFL against one another, with each aiming to outscore the other. When their careers are wrapped up, it’s possible we’re comparing Allen and Mahomes to some of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, but which of the two is better right now?
Discover our three reasons why Josh Allen is better than Patrick Mahomes right now.
Patrick Mahomes had much better training than Josh Allen early on
From a pure passing perspective, career-wise, Mahomes has much better stats on paper than Allen has. The Kansas City QB has had his numbers boosted by starting out of the gates as a much more polished passer than Allen was. A lot of this may have had to do with coaching and/or their backgrounds.
Mahomes got to learn under three-time Pro Bowl QB and former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith his first season in the NFL, but it started even before either player reached the pros.
Sure, Allen had to be in good hands to even land on the NFL radar to begin with, starting at Reedley junior college before transferring to Wyoming, yet another small school by NFL standards. In contrast, Mahomes is the son of a former MLB pitcher, likely giving him a bit more hands-on experience and training opportunities being the son of a former ballplayer. Yet uniquely, Mahomes and his baseball background routinely show up on gameday when he uncorks a side-winding pass.
Unlike Allen, Mahomes actually had multiple scholarship offers before settling on Texas Tech. Mahomes may have had the advantage of being one step ahead at each level of his development, from high school to college and even the NFL, but an argument can be made that Allen has now closed the gap and even surpassed the Super Bowl winning-QB. Our latest chance to find out comes this Sunday at 4:25 PM ET on CBS.
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Josh Allen has always done more with less
While rankings are always a bit subjective, there’s no doubt that both Allen and Mahomes rank in the top five of current NFL quarterbacks, no matter where your loyalties lie. Mahomes became an instant superstar during his first year as a starter in 2018. That wasn’t the case for Allen, who completed just 52.8% of his passes as a rookie. Yet, four years later, Allen has catapulted to the top of the NFL MVP odds, has his Bills as Super Bowl favorites, and is a top-rated quarterback by many measures.
He’s clearly continued to improve at his craft, but the Bills have also made life easier for him in some aspects. Compare Allen’s early days with the Bills to what Mahomes got to work with.
Mahomes joined the Chiefs as a first-round pick in 2017. His head coach Andy Reid already had 18 years of experience leading an NFL team, 11 of which came with a top-ten offense. He stepped right into an excellent learning environment under one of the greatest offensive minds of all time. Of course, it was up to Mahomes to buy in and put the work in himself, but he had all the right mentors.
Not only that, but Mahomes also benefited from having All-Pro talent all around him on offense. The Chiefs had Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, and Kareem Hunt — all players who have had 1,000-yard seasons in their careers.
Josh Allen? He didn’t have anything close to these impact playmakers or similar coaching staff. Led by the defensive-minded Sean McDermott, the Bills had an aging LeSean McCoy in his third-to-last season and a receiving corps led by Zay Jones, Robert Foster, and Kelvin Benjamin in his final season. None of them have ever posted better seasons since playing with Allen.
In 2019, the Bills added a 36-year-old Frank Gore along with John Brown, Cole Beasley, and tight end Dawson Knox in the third round. Allen finally had some NFL talent, albeit no No. 1 option, and his completion rate improved six percentage points to a respectable 58.8%. The Bills finally had a playoff team, and maybe, they had a franchise QB.
That was set in stone in 2020 after acquiring Stefon Diggs, the first Pro Bowl-caliber target Allen got to work with. Suddenly Allen had become a Pro Bowl QB himself and helped Diggs lead the NFL with 1,535 receiving yards. Not only that, Allen was the runner-up to win MVP behind Aaron Rodgers. Mahomes, of course, won in 2018, his first full season as a starter.
But, a case can be made, Mahomes has always had much more to work with than Allen has. From the coaching staff to the personnel. Except, now that Tyreek Hill is playing in Miami, the Bills have a better cast of weapons, yet the Chiefs still have the coaching edge when it comes to experience.
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Patrick Mahomes may have better raw passing stats, but he’s not the better player
| Josh Allen | Patrick Mahomes | Season stats |
| 1,651 | 1,398 | Passing yards |
| 14 | 15 | Passing touchdowns |
| 4 | 2 | Interceptions |
| 225 (2 TD) | 92 | Rushing yards |
Upon first glance, it’s easy to see how both players are being compared. They’re both either at the top or among the top NFL QBs in major passing categories, and they both have their unique traits that help each stand out. Allen, for example, leads his team in rushing yards despite also leading the NFL in passing yards. It’s odd, but true.
Yet, some of these raw passing stats, such as interceptions, can sometimes be a bit misleading when pass-catchers tip a pass into the air or just completely drop the pass into a defender’s arms. In fact, there are a few advanced analytics that points to Allen being better than Mahomes in 2022 so far.
Pro Football Focus has Allen with an 87.5 grade, compared to Mahomes coming in with an 85.8. This is strictly due to Allen grading out higher as a runner, but even their passing grades are similar at 82.2 for Mahomes and 80 for Allen. While it’s true Allen has a tendency to chuck a few more interceptable balls, as his ‘turnover throw’ rate comes in at 3.9% compared to Mahomes at 2.2%, he’s also been able to have more ‘big-time throws’ (5.9% compared to 4.9%).
When it comes to throwing under pressure, Mahomes ranks No. 1, and Allen ranks No. 2 of QBs to have made all five starts. But again, it’s Allen who has a higher completion rate at 56.5% compared to 46.6% from Mahomes, and the latter has thrown six touchdowns and an interception compared to four scores and zero picks from Buffalo’s QB.
Do you like deep passes? Who doesn’t? Josh Allen sure does. He has the NFL’s highest passer rating on targets 20-plus yards downfield, with 532 passing yards to go with five touchdowns and an interception. Meanwhile, without Tyreek, Mahomes ranks eighth in rating, with just 228 yards and a score. All of this is to say both quarterbacks are truly great, but it’s not hard to find many measures that show Allen is the better all-around player. We’ll find out which is true on Sunday.
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