Bills Second Year QB Allen looking Good in Camp

Josh Allen player props nfl picks

The Buffalo Bills are riding the optimism train after a week of training camp. That’s largely down to the performance of second-year QB Josh Allen, who despite flashes of talent in his rookie season, still has much to prove after only completing 52.8 percent of his passes last season.

If you’re into sports betting, however, you might want to bet on Josh Allen and the Bills, thanks to an upgraded supporting cast on the offensive side of the ball. With the front office handing him new receiving threats in the form of Cole Beasley and John Brown, Allen has been showing more confidence in camp, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates. When you take that confidence and add to his smarts and pure talent, a quarterback has no choice but to show that he’s grown into the system. Until Allen is playing in  real NFL games, however, we won’t know how his play will compare to that of last season.

Allen and Brown, at least, seem to have established some chemistry after the receiver caught a pair of long passes in an early practice. Brown’s speed has been caused trouble for the Bills secondary all through training camp.

The receiving corps, as a whole, will be under close observation thanks to a host of new receiving targets that lack a real No. 1 WR. After a failed attempt to sign Antonio Brown, the Bills are still without a guy with both size and speed who can be depended upon to receive more targets than any other receiver.

The five main targets will likely be Andre Roberts, Brown and Beasley, and returning WRs Robert Foster and Zay Jones. Pro Football Focus only ranked the receiving corps at No. 23, although that’s a jump up from last year’s dead last.

Brown, who has previously played for the Arizona Cardinals and Baltimore Ravens, has put in some impressive numbers when he’s played with a decent QB. He has one 1,000-yard season in 2015 when playing in Arizona with Carson Palmer.

Last year, Brown tried for fourth in the league for yards per catch, at 17. And Beasley proved he has great hands with a 74.7% catch rate. Beasley is seen by some as the Bills answer to the Patriots’ Julian Edelman.

Head Coach Sean McDermott may have referred to his receivers as “smurfs” recently, but each of their roles are clearly defined, which should help the group, as a whole. Foster and Brown can stretch the field and catch the football from the powerful arm of Allen, and Beasley and Jones are good underneath targets and route runners.

General Manager Brandon Beane had variety in mind when he set out to overhaul the receiving corps in the off-season. Beane doesn’t like having three of four similar receivers, knowing you need to have different kinds of receivers in case the weather changes.

The offensive line is another area of the team that has seen a dramatic overhaul after a poor showing last season. Injuries are already a concern, however, with new starting centre Mitch Morse having suffered a concussion in practice.

The team also invested their second-round draft pick in Cody Ford, who has been playing right tackle in camp. He’ll be pushed by fellow new Bill Ty Nsehke.

The camp offensive line has been left to right, Dion Dawkins, Spencer Long, Russel Bodine, Jon Feliciano, and Nsehke. Their main job will be to protect the QB in order to give him more time to make reads and go through progressions.

When it comes to Allen, he showed some impressive skills running the ball last year, and we can expect to see more of the same this coming season. And then there’s that arm strength: it’s hard not to be impressed with a man who claims he can throw the football 82 yards in the air.

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