2018 was the “Year of the Quarterback,” with five passers selected in the first round of the draft. One of those was Josh Allen, picked seventh overall by the Buffalo Bills. Allen was the third quarterback chosen that year, but a potpourri of opinions had the quarterbacks sorted six ways to Sunday in pre-draft rankings. Thanks to a series of events (and a scheduling coincidence), Allen has the chance to square off against every single one of his main 2018 counterparts this season—the other five of the first six quarterbacks drafted in that year will play against the Bills.
Allen has already defeated his first rival from that draft, with Buffalo’s dramatic 17-point comeback win over Sam Darnold in Week 1. The next match-up could come on October 20th, when the Bills meet the Miami Dolphins. Ryan Fitzpatrick has been under center for Miami since the start of the season, but after Fitzpatrick’s second pick-six on Sunday, Rosen entered the game, and there are rumblings that he’ll be named the starter before long.
On November 10th, the Bills head to Cleveland to take on Baker Mayfield and his Cleveland Browns. These two teams used to meet almost annually, but there was no regular-season pairing last season, so this will be Mayfield’s first head-to-head match-up with Allen. The following week is another opportunity for Allen and Rosen to square off.
On December 8th, Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens come to Buffalo. We’ll see if the red-hot Jackson has cooled off by the time he’s breathing the December air in Orchard Park, but in the 13th game of the season, this may well be a playoff preview if current trends continue.
Finally, the following week, the Bills battle the Pittsburgh Steelers. Longtime franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will miss the rest of the season with an elbow injury, and the team just traded away Joshua Dobbs, which means Mason Rudolph, the sixth QB selected in the draft, is Allen’s counterpart that week (assuming he holds onto his job through the season).
Kyle Lauletta, the seventh-highest drafted quarterback from the 2018 NFL Draft, was a fourth-round pick by the New York Giants. The Giants waived Lauletta this season, and he signed onto the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad. If Carson Wentz’s injuries keep piling up, there’s an outside chance that the team could promote Lauletta and send him in against the Bills on October 27th, but don’t count on it.