Add another accolade to Josh Allen’s season—the Buffalo Bills quarterback has been named the Most Improved Player of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America. Allen earned the award after his career took a third-year leap to the stratosphere.
Let’s review (because it isn’t stale yet):
- Allen’s completion percentage went from 58.8 percent to 69.2 percent, which took him from 32nd to fourth in that statistic between 2019 and 2020.
- Allen increased his passing touchdowns from 20 to 37, upping his rank from 21st to fifth.
- In terms of total touchdowns, Allen went from 29 to 46, a number that ranked second-best this season.
- Meanwhile, Allen’s interceptions increased from nine to ten, but since he threw 111 more passes, his interception percent decreased from 2.0 to 1.7.
- Allen’s yards per attempt leaped from 6.7 to 7.9, taking him from 26th to fifth in that ranking.
- For Adjusted Net Yards Per Attempt (which includes touchdowns, turnovers, and sacks in the calculation), Allen improved from 5.71 to 7.82, an improvement from 23rd to fifth overall.
Allen’s big year put him in the running for MVP, and it was probably the greatest second-to-third-year quarterback leap since Matthew Stafford returned after a season-ending injury and threw for 5000 yards and 41 touchdowns in 2011 (Stafford earned the Comeback Player of the Year award rather than Most Improved Player in that season).
This award has been presented since 2000, when Jeff Garcia threw for 31 touchdowns and ten interceptions a year after throwing 11 of each. Recent winners include George Kittle, whose dynamite sophomore season set a single-season receiving record, and Ryan Tannehill, who led the NFL with 9.6 yards per attempt with the Tennessee Titans after being traded from the Miami Dolphins.
In addition to this honor, general manager Brandon Beane was named the PFWA Executive of the Year, and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was named Assistant Coach of the Year. Their MVP award went to Aaron Rodgers, so Allen will have to settle for winning Super Bowl MVP in a few weeks.