Bills training camp 2025 quarterback preview: Can Josh Allen have another MVP-caliber season?
Josh Allen proved last season that he could elevate his teammates with his talent.
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It surely isn’t a coincidence that when the Bills became perennial threats to make it to the Super Bowl, it happened at the same time as franchise quarterback Josh Allen took a massive step forward in the 2020 season.
The entire organization knows that they will go as Allen does, and have treated their operation with that at the forefront of their minds since the quarterback turned the corner into one of the best in the league. And with Allen’s marquee 2024 season now behind him, the Bills must prepare for another opportunity to help Allen reach a new goal, getting to — or even winning — a Super Bowl.
As the Bills approach training camp, what stands out about their quarterback room? Here is a detailed outlook for when the Bills return in late July.
2025 Bills projected QB depth chart
What’s changed?
The Bills made their only move at quarterback at the end of last season by signing Mike White to a two-year contract when they called him up to the 53-man roster. That ensured that the same four quarterbacks they had in 2024 would remain the group heading into 2025. Allen is the franchise player, Mitchell Trubisky and White are the second options, and practice squad option Shane Buechele returns after spending all last year on Injured Reserve.
Biggest question
Can Josh Allen have a repeat performance in 2025?
Allen became one of the star quarterbacks of the NFL several years ago, and he’s continued to evolve year after year to stay in those conversations. But even by his incredibly high standards, Allen’s 2024 season was easily the best football he’s played over his entire career. He continued doing all the things that made him one of the best players in the league, highlighting his outstanding arm strength, his mobility and a special knack for making clutch plays when his team needed him the most. But above those known attributes, Allen delivered a season that showed immense growth in his decision-making as a pocket passer to keep the ball in the Bills’ possession.
Since Allen made his NFL debut in 2018, one of the things he has had to work on was finding a necessary balance between taking calculated risks while resisting the urge to be too aggressive and forcing the ball into coverage. Allen towed that line in 2024 better than he ever has. He has learned to get through all his progressions and recognize tight but exploitable throwing windows as opposed to when to keep the ball in his hand and live to fight another down. Doing all of that, along with the gaudy statistics that come with being both a throwing and running threat at the top of his game was one thing. Then, when you add in all the wins and the pizzazz with some of his highlight-caliber plays, you yield a player who was in clear control almost the entire year. He was rewarded with the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award for the first time in his career for those efforts.
The question of Allen’s potential for a repeat performance doesn’t have much to do with him coming away with the MVP award in 2025. It’s a pretty rare feat to win the MVP award in back-to-back seasons. It’s only been done twice since the turn of the century when Peyton Manning did so in 2008 and 2009, and then Aaron Rodgers in 2020 and 2021. Allen’s marker of success, and living up to what he was to the Bills is not and should not be confined to winning the MVP award.
Rather, it’s about Allen sustaining the level of play he discovered last year — being smart with the football, continuing to be one of the most dynamic and difficult-to-defend quarterbacks in the league and putting the Bills in a position to win every week. On top of that, just as he did last year, boosting the game of the relatively unproven receivers around him was also a factor in such a successful year. Last season was his first chance to prove that he could be a talent elevator to his teammates, and he took the challenge head-on and helped lead one of the most successful scoring offenses in the NFL.
Now that’s not to say it was perfect in 2024. The Bills receivers struggled with separation, and it impacted the team’s overall ability to challenge opponents consistently in the intermediate-to-deep areas of the field. Allen has shown throughout his career that he can win as a passer to those spots on the field, but the farther the ball travels, the higher the degree of difficulty becomes, which could lead to more potential turnover-worthy plays if the receivers show a better knack of getting open in those areas. The Bills approached their offseason to improve just that with the additions of Joshua Palmer, Elijah Moore and their optimism for a fully healthy Dalton Kincaid being able to push down the field as a tight end.
Working in Allen’s favor is that the Bills will return the same starting offensive line as they had in 2024, which was one of the best in the entire NFL last season. They’ll also bring back the same stable of running backs to alleviate some pressure from being too pass-heavy an operation, and two of Allen’s three most successful wide receivers in Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman. But it all revolves around Allen. Was his decision-making and efficiency combined with his usual high-level, multi-faceted quarterbacking a one-off, or was it the beginning of Allen’s true prime as one of, if not the best, player in the entire league? If it’s the latter, there could be another special season ahead for the Bills in 2025
Potential camp battle
Mitchell Trubisky vs. Mike White
The Bills haven’t given Trubisky much competition over the years, but that’s changed a bit this season. After being Allen’s backup in 2021, Trubisky spent two years with the Steelers before hitting the open market again in 2024. The Bills were ecstatic to get Trubisky back under contract, especially after the Bills’ depth at quarterback beyond Allen in 2023 was a legitimate concern. Trubisky remains the slight favorite to retain the backup role. However, unlike last summer, the Bills have another quarterback under contract, Mike White, who has both starting experience and as a primary backup for a team. It could set up for Trubisky to have a little more heat on his job than he’s faced previously in Buffalo. If the Bills did cut Trubisky, they would save $1.5 million on the 2025 salary cap, so there are positive cap ramifications. More than anything, though, the Bills will want the best player for the job, and Trubisky should be viewed as the favorite at this point, but White is an experienced player with more natural passing deeper down the field. It could easily sway in White’s favor by the end of preseason.
Who makes it and why?
Josh Allen and Mitchell Trubisky
Although the Bills will entertain the idea of White stealing the backup spot or keeping three quarterbacks for the season, I have them going with the status quo in 2025. Trubisky has more starting experience and is a better athlete than White, and Trubisky would be able to access more of the playbook designed for Allen. With the Bills adding a huge draft class and likely to keep most of them, it likely discourages them from using a 53-man roster spot on the luxury position of an emergency quarterback. The inevitable truth is that the Bills hope Trubisky, White, or anyone else not named Josh Allen will have to enter the starting lineup in a meaningful situation.