Entering the 2026 offseason, many teams were looking to sign or cut players to improve their rosters. The Buffalo Bills, however, were busy with their battered players. The Bills’ injury list looked like a grocery list by the time their season ended, with over ten players. The most significant of them all was their franchise quarterback, Josh Allen.

He broke his right foot in Week 16 of the regular season but continued to play through it. But while he led them to their first playoff road win since 1993 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, signs became glaring against the Denver Broncos. Probably to Allen as well, as he didn’t waste time getting his right foot operated on once out of contention. Four months later, there are only positive updates from everyone, including the quarterback himself.

“A little bit different, a little more centered around the foot, and making sure that I was getting the right PT,” Josh Allen said on the Centered on Buffalo Podcast. “Even when I got back here, just making sure that we’re being smart with it.

“Certain exercises that I’ve kind of built into it. But I do feel great. But it’s just making sure I’m staying on top of it and not letting it become an issue. But yeah, we’re in a good spot.”

The injury originally occurred in a Week 16 game against the Cleveland Browns. Allen sustained a broken bone in his right foot while trying to escape the Browns’ defense maestro, Myles Garrett. He re-aggravated the injury in the Bills’ 13-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. However, with him not showing any signs of reduced performance and his X-rays coming back clean, he stayed in the lineup. The signs, still, were always there.

In that Eagles loss, Allen’s 35 pass attempts from the pocket were his first game with 20-plus attempted passes. His scrambling has also reduced. Then, in their wild-card win over the Jaguars, he injured his left knee and right finger, only to continuously make it to the field. But it all unraveled in the Broncos loss.

In the divisional title game, he threw 25-of-39 passes, including the overthrown pass, which could’ve effectively helped them win that game. He only threw for 283 yards, along with four of Buffalo’s five turnovers. It was the reason why Allen is Buffalo’s Superman. But the injury kept aggravating, forcing him to get it surgically corrected. A few days ago, the QB also opened up on the recovery.

“A little piece of bone just kind of broke off and was floating there, so they just went in, took it out, kind of like a small rock,” he told the reporters. “They literally just cut it out, left it on the table, and sewed it back up, and scar tissue will form around it.

Our head trainer, Nate Breske, was there, and apparently, they like wrapped it up and threw it away as quickly as they could. And I really wanted it. It may be floating out there, who knows.”

Now, the Bills are in their OTAs, and Allen is back in his full form. Yet, at home, he is still struggling with one thing taking a toll on his body.

Josh Allen’s back is also seemingly in ‘danger’

The foot, it turns out, is not the only thing Allen is managing this offseason. The 30-year-old became a father in April, and the adjustment has come with its own physical demands.

“The back gets a little bit tired,” Allen admitted. “Especially when you’re shushing a baby, and you got no back support. You wake up that next day, and you’re like, ‘Holy cow, I feel it.'”

He even has a name for it – “Disney back,” a term his brother Kyle Allen passed along for the soreness that comes from constantly carrying a toddler around a theme park.

But on the field, things are clearer. Back at OTAs, Allen has already noticed something different about the Bills under first-year head coach Joe Brady, the man promoted from offensive coordinator after Sean McDermott’s departure.

What changes did Josh Allen observe in HC Joe Brady’s coaching over OTAs?

The Bills’ defense had a run-defense grade of 50.9 last season, according to PFF – sixth worst in the league. With their QB back healthy and offense taken care of, the team now wants to build on its defense. They already moved on from veteran head coach Sean McDermott and promoted OC Joe Brady, who signed a five-year deal with the team.

Although it’s been just a handful of days of work, Josh Allen revealed he has already seen a significant change in the coaching style of his former offensive coordinator.

“He’s been celebrating with the defense when they intercept the ball instead of getting really mad,” Allen said on the Centered on Buffalo Podcast. “He’s giving them our plays in the team meetings. So, you know, I guess you’ve got to pick and choose your battles. So, now I’m just messing.”

Joe Brady is pushing to understand the team’s defense as he shifts to the head coach role after primarily focusing on the offensive side of the ball. And the 36-year-old has managed to build this camaraderie with the defense after being part of a significant number of defensive meetings to learn the intricacies of both sides of the ball.

“Really trying to get a feel of how we do things,” Brady said, according to Niagara Gazette’s Nick Sabato. “… A lot of people are going to be studying probably a lot of the top defenses, and there are elements I’m going to do. And so making sure that we’re doing that next, and then also them using me as a resource.”

Brady has his quarterback healthy and hungry. And Allen has his coach engaged. For a Bills team that keeps falling one game short, that combination may finally be enough. The 2026 season will have the answer.