NFL News: Josh Allen is going into his ninth NFL season, and most people would say he is the best quarterback in the league. That kind of status brings power. But according to NFL insider Mike Sando, Allen might have a little too much of it inside the Buffalo Bills.
Sando talked about it on Damon Amendolara’s show. He said there are quiet complaints going around the league about how much control Allen has over parts of the offense. The main issue is pass protection.
Read This:
The pass protection problem
This is not a small thing. Sando said Allen basically gets to set the pass protections the way he wants, and that has bothered the coaching staff at times.
Pass protection matters a lot. It decides who blocks whom and how much pressure reaches the quarterback. It shapes the whole way an offense is built. When the quarterback controls those calls instead of the coaches, the line between player input and team control starts to blur.
Allen’s influence does not stop there. He was reportedly in the room during the team’s head coach interviews this offseason. The Athletic’s Tim Graham reported that Allen took part in the process and will be seen as having signed off on Joe Brady getting the job. That kind of access is rare for a player, no matter how good he is.
Can Joe Brady push back?
This is where it gets tricky. Brady and Allen have history, and it is a good one. Brady was Allen’s offensive coordinator for the last two years, and the offense was one of the best in the league. Buffalo averaged 30.6 points per game in 2024 and 28.3 in 2025. So the trust between them is built on real results.
But going from coordinator to head coach changes everything.
Sando made a good point about the old setup. Sean McDermott had his flaws, but he came from the defensive side and had his own authority. He did not always give Allen what he wanted. That created a natural check inside the building.
Brady does not have that same leverage. He came up on offense, he spent years working closely with Allen, and now he answers to a quarterback who basically approved his hire. That is a hard spot to coach from, especially when you need to hold your star player accountable instead of just keeping him happy.
The Brady and Belichick example
There is a useful comparison from the past. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick won six Super Bowls together, and they were not close friends. Belichick coached Brady hard, even when it was uncomfortable. That kind of tension is often what turns a good team into a great one.
The question for Buffalo is simple. Can Joe Brady be that voice? He is dealing with his friend, his star player, and the man who helped him get the job, all at the same time.
What it means for 2026
None of this means the Bills will be bad. Far from it. The offense is loaded, Allen is still elite, and the team should score plenty of points. Sando himself said Buffalo will be good because Allen makes them good.
The worry is smaller and more specific. It is about balance. A star with this much power can be a strength when everyone is on the same page. It can be a problem when no one is willing to tell him no. How Brady handles that in his first year as head coach may be the thing that decides how far Buffalo goes.
