Edge rusher Bradley Chubb signed a three-year, $43.5 million contract with the Buffalo Bills in March 2026, which was a strange twist of fate considering he was drafted the same year as Bills quarterback Josh Allen and likely took his spot on the Denver Broncos roster after the 2018 NFL Draft.

After Allen joined the November 6 episode of ‘The Matchup with Chris Harris Jr. & Emmanuel Sanders’, Harris, a former Broncos player who was in the locker room back in 2018, expressed his remorse about Allen not donning a Broncos jersey. In response, the quarterback admitted that over the years, he has taken a few shots at the Broncos’ then-general manager, John Elway, for not drafting him.

“Fast forward now, it is kind of funny. Bradley Chubbs in our locker room. I’ve actually had the chance to be around Elway a couple times and I jab him every time I see him, you know. ‘Hey, you remember when you didn’t draft me?’” Allen said. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, I know. I know.’ So, I let him have it, but again, everything happens how it’s supposed to. And that just kind of spoke about my journey, too, of going to junior college, having no offers, going to Laramie, you know, not really being thought of to be anything. Um, but every step along the way had to happen in order for me to be who I am.”

What gave Allen hope was the fact that the team’s quarterback coach texted him the morning of the draft. He was convinced that he was going to become a Denver Broncos quarterback. But the Broncos eventually went with Chubb, and he was drafted by the Bills instead.

In retrospect, Allen thanked both the Bills, who kickstarted his NFL career, and the University of Wyoming, where he played for the Wyoming Cowboys. He also gave a nod to orthopedic surgeon and Head Team Physician for the University of Wyoming Athletics, Dr. Mark E. McKenna, who treated the November 2017 shoulder injury that almost derailed Allen’s draft chances.

“I’m not going to lie. I got a text from, you know, the quarterback coach at the time that morning saying, ‘I hope you’re there when we get to pick.’ And I was like, ‘You know what? I’m probably going to be a Bronco,’” the Bills QB added. “Obviously it worked out the way it was supposed to work out. I’m here in Buffalo, right? You know, there’s [a] huge group of Wyoming fans and you know, the president was here, the guy, the doctor that did my shoulder surgery, Dr. McKenna, was here. So, made the travel all the way over here. But yeah, man. I honestly thought there was a chance.”

The Broncos were definitely interested in Josh Allen, especially since they were going through a transitional phase after Peyton Manning’s exit in 2016 and were in need of a reliable, long-term franchise quarterback. However, there were a couple of reasons why they decided not to go with him.

During the 2016 Draft, the Broncos front office spent a first-round pick on Paxton Lynch, coming out of the University of Memphis, hoping to develop him into a franchise quarterback, but that pick proved to be a bust. So, while Elway liked Allen’s prospects, head coach Vance Joseph and the offensive coaching staff were not on board with spending a first round pick on a non-power Five school quarterback.

“And I loved him [Josh Allen]. But it just didn’t work out,” Elway said on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast back in 2024. “He was my type. That was probably my biggest mistake of my GM days, was not taking Josh.”

Allen’s college stats, which showed him maintaining a 56.2% pass completion rate and a 6.8% chance of throwing a touchdown, coupled with reports of his passing inaccuracy, further raised concerns among Denver’s coaching staff. Finally, the Broncos had already signed veteran quarterback Case Keenum in free agency earlier that offseason, which also affected their decision to bolster their defense with Bradley Chubb rather than acquiring Allen.

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