ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — He’s no Lamar Jackson. Who is?
But of the supposed “Big 4” quarterbacks from the 2018 NFL Draft, a strong argument can be made Josh Allen is now the best of the bunch.
Baker Mayfield, the No. 1 overall pick, had a nice rookie year for the Cleveland Browns but has struggled through a sophomore slump.
Sam Darnold, the No. 3 pick, has been as inconsistent and a bit injury prone while going 7-13 for the Jets.
Josh Rosen, the No. 10 pick by Arizona who was considered the best pure passer, has already been traded from what was one bad team and benched by another.
Allen went No. 7 to Buffalo after the Broncos decided instead to take pass-rusher Bradley Chubb at No. 5.
Broncos general manager John Elway really liked Allen -- whose size, outrageous arm strength and athletic ability to scramble compared favored to Elway the quarterback coming out of Stanford in 1983. But while Allen had the greatest ceiling, he was also considered the greatest risk because of accuracy issues coming out of Wyoming.
And the Broncos just went through that with Paxton Lynch. So Chubb, not Allen, was their choice.
“I did think that there was a chance that I could end up there,’’ Allen said in a conference call Wednesday with the Denver media. “Obviously, it would have been close to Laramie, kind of close to the West Coast where I lived. It’s something that my buddies from college really wanted to happen because they were living there in Denver and it would be easy for them.
“I definitely think I ended up where I was supposed to be and where I needed to be.”
Allen has led the Bills to a 7-3 record entering their home game Sunday against the 3-7 Broncos. He had one bad game against New England this season, completing less than 50 percent of his passes while throwing three interceptions with no touchdowns in a 16-10 loss.
But otherwise, Allen has started to blossom. He has 8 TD passes and 0 picks in his previous five games. He is the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Week after he threw for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed for another 56 yards and another touchdown in a win at Miami.
Only Lamar Jackson, who was the fifth QB taken in the 2018 draft, and Kyler Murray, who went No. 1 this year, are more prolific runners than Allen among NFL quarterbacks.
“He’s a big reason why they’re 7-3,’’ said Broncos coach Vic Fangio.
Before Allen’s Bills host the Broncos in New Era Field in Orchard Park, Allen’s former Wyoming Cowboys will host the Colorado State Rams on Friday night.
“Oh yeah, it’s Sheep Week,’’ Allen said.
Sheep Week?
“They’re sheep. They’re not the Rams, they’re sheep,’’ Allen said. “It sucks and it always will suck to be a CSU Ram. Never lost to them. I won in the old (Hughes) Stadium that they had and I was on that team that beat them the last time ever there.
“I left, hopefully, a sour taste in their mouth forever in that stadium, so I’m very proud to be a Wyoming Cowboy. I think we’ve won the last four now and we’re looking to make it five.”
Actually, it’s three in a row, Josh, as the Rams did beat Allen in his first sophomore season of 2015. Allen received a medical redshirt that year so he personally never lost to them. But he got so excited popping off about the Border War that he didn’t get all his facts straight.
Apparently, the CSU-Wyoming isn’t close to dying either.
“No, never,’’ he said.
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