Especially if you root for a smaller school, there’s really no way to prepare yourself for a sudden rush of NFL Draft hype surrounding your team’s favorite player. As a Wyoming fan, Josh Allen-mania still feels surreal to me. And when a Wyoming Cowboy walks across the stage at the NFL Draft this spring as a top-15 pick, I’ll probably have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.
But the number one thing that caught me off guard was how the polarization created by the NFL Draft complex of writers, scouts and pundits profoundly changes how we all view college football, myself included.
I watch all of my football on Saturdays. The last NFL team I really cared about was the Jay Cutler-led Broncos, which should give you an idea of why I eventually stopped. Now that Allen is entering the league, I’ll be picking a new rooting interest. This is why I’ll be holding my breath as the Cleveland Browns draft twice in the top five picks in April.
Starting last offseason when Matt Miller of Bleacher Report put Allen, who was at the time still deciding whether to return to school or not, in the top-five of his mock draft, the hype train really got rolling. Some might call it a bandwagon driven by Miller (who remains one of the more pro-Allen pundits), but when you see a quarterback from the smallest market in the FBS that high in any semi-serious mock draft, everyone rushes to watch tape and form an opinion.
A consensus formed during that off-season on Allen: tall, athletic, big arm and lots of questions regarding accuracy and decision-making. It was clear he needed another year in school and that’s exactly what he decided to do.
Which leads us to this season, where every Allen mistake (there were many) big and small resulted in hand-wringing by everyone who had established their anti-Allen position. Wyoming’s first game was against Iowa, who turned out to have one of the better secondaries in the country and was certainly the best one Allen faced. Beyond his two interceptions in the game, even the most minor errors whipped up a frenzy on Twitter. “He looked sloppy tossing the ball out of bounds avoiding a sack?” “Garbage.” “This is your top draft quarterback? See how smart I am?” So on and so forth, for ten games.
Josh Allen didn’t have a great season. The things he did do well didn’t show up on a stat sheet. He didn’t have a lot of help around him on offense. And there was a massive amount of confirmation bias among those who doubt his abilities as an NFL quarterback. I believe all four of those things to be true and only semi-related to each other.
Those four things are also among the least interesting and fun about him. And that’s what I find sad and profoundly frustrating.
Despite how unique it is, it isn’t surprising that many don’t know Allen’s backstory. After all, everyone spent the last three months debating the angle of his backside hip on three-step drops on Twitter instead of recognizing the larger picture.
We often hear inspiring stories about 1 or 2 star players who go on to become All-Americans or even All-Pros. Josh Allen didn’t have any stars. He grew up on a farm in California and spent his days desperately emailing coaches to look at his film and give him a chance. Allen grew up in Fresno State’s backyard and couldn’t even get their attention. After going the junior college route to work on his game and grow, Wyoming was the only school who offered him a no-strings-attached scholarship.
He then broke his collar-bone in his first Division I start and stuck it out in street clothes from the sidelines during a two-win 2015 season. A year later he was starting in the Mountain West championship game. Throw out your opinion of Allen as an NFL quarterback and acknowledge that his path to becoming a starting quarterback in Division I football is beyond special.
Next, there’s the fact that Allen is a really fun player. Not a perfect one, not likely to be the next Aaron Rodgers, but undeniably fun to watch.
The final touchdown throw to Tanner Gentry here is one I’ll never forget. Not because Allen never made any other throws like it (he did, several times), but because I’ll always remember watching it live and realizing that I was watching a once-in-a-generation, possibly once-in-a-lifetime type college player on my favorite team. But this season, a throw like that would have only sparked a debate about whether it would translate to the NFL.
This is the part where I acknowledge that I’ve been complicit too. Even knowing Allen’s backstory and knowing that no matter what happens with him in the NFL I was able to enjoy him win games and toss absurd touchdown passes for my favorite team, I got sucked in to the Twitter garbage. I argued with bitter Jets fans on Twitter, with other writers in our Slack channel, and just about anyone anywhere with a negative Josh Allen take.
I could blame my reaction on simply pushing back on what I still believe to be unfair criticism. After all, predicting a college quarterback to bust in the NFL is the safest bet in all of sports. It’s really damn hard and that’s why a dozen or so NFL teams don’t have a guy. But part of it too was that I wasn’t prepared for what Draft hype would mean for my favorite player — the endless scrutiny, condescending tweets and the overall desire to watch a 21-year old kid with a really cool backstory fail. All of this caught me by surprise and I felt like I was failing as a Wyoming fan if I wasn’t backing him up.
Next time, if there is a next time, I won’t even bother. Maybe fans of bigger schools are used to this by now. But if you’re watching Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson or Saquon Barkley in their final college games this week and you enjoy college football, then do just that — enjoy them. If you bleed your team colors and are lucky enough to have those guys instead of facing them, no NFL blogger or know-it-all NFL fan can take that from you. After two years of Josh Allen, I’ve just now figured that out. And now I’m at peace.