The date was August 19, 1986 and the Buffalo Bills took a guy named Jim Kelly from the United States Football League and were bringing him over to the National Football League and made him the highest-paid player in the entire league. When Jim Kelly first came to Buffalo, the Buffalo Bills were

  • Made him the highest-paid player by $200,000 (and think--this was 35 years ago!!)
  • Had a record of 2-14 for the previous two seasons.
  • Sold less than 15,000 season tickets the season before.

The Buffalo Bills signed Kelly to a five-year contract that, according to Kelly's agents, is worth between $7.5 million and $8 million. The salary, about $1.5 million a year, is at least $200,000 more than quarterback Joe Montana's annual pay with the San Francisco 49ers", according to the LA Times.

Flash forward. Man, the times sure have changed. Check out the 'passing of the torch' football that Jim Kelly gave Josh Allen, too! 

The date is July 1, 2021, nearly 35 years since Jim Kelly signed his first Buffalo Bills contract and rumors and projections of Josh Allen's contract are all over the internet. Here is what we know:

  • The contract could be worth about 42 million dollars a year, the 2nd highest in the league.
  • Season ticket sales for the Buffalo Bills are approximately around 60,000.

Spotrac estimates Josh Allen's market value for a new deal at four years, $168.6 million, which would put him at over $42 million per year. He'd be second in average salary in the league, ahead of Dak Prescott and behind Patrick Mahomes", according to The Spun.

Hopefully, the biggest similarity will be that both of these quarterbacks will have gotten both of their squads to a Super Bowl.

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