Cam Newton: Josh Allen Doesn’t Get Critiqued the Same as Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson

Does Josh Allen receive a degree of favoritism from large-scale NFL media? It depends on who you ask. To Kansas City Chiefs fans, Allen is put on the same pedestal as Patrick Mahomes despite not having similar accomplishments. Cincinnati Bengals fans believe he’s more revered than Joe Burrow even though he has never appeared in a Super Bowl.

Baltimore Ravens fans think Lamar Jackson is simply better, but not acknowledged as such. Cam Newton thinks all three fanbases may have a point.

No matter how fans feel, Allen is undeniably the NFL’s top dog in one respect: guaranteed money. The Buffalo Bills earmarked a whopping quarter-billion dollars for him – the most in league history – as part of his contract renewal. The $250 million guarantee is $31 million more than Burrow received, $65 million more than Jackson earned, and nearly $109 million more than Mahomes was given.

While Newton thinks Allen deserved “every single dime of that contract,” he also thinks it’s time the Buffalo QB starts to “turn over the receipts” and that means making that Super Bowl run. When asked if Allen is expected to win the Super Bowl next season, Newton didn’t stutter.

“It’s time for Josh Allen to make [a Super Bowl run]. And it has nothing to do with his contract… [he] deserved every single dime. But it requires him to turn over the receipts for his play… [him], Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes [and] Joe Burrow. If you would rank those guys, who gets critiqued the most? He would be the last,” he said on the 4th&1 podcast.

Jackson led the NFL in passer rating (119.6) and touchdown percentage (8.6%) last season. Burrow paced the league in passing yards (4,918) and touchdowns (43) while completing 70.6% of his passes. Mahomes reached the Super Bowl for the fifth time in six years. Despite this, one could argue he – along with Jackson and Burrow – was more heavily criticized last year than Allen.

Allen has lost four consecutive playoff matchups against Patrick Mahomes. He’s the only signal-caller in NFL history to lose to the same quarterback four times in the postseason. Yet when he came up short on his controversial quarterback sneak in the AFC Championship game, criticism went to the officials instead of him.

How does this compare to criticism of Jackson and Burrow?

Mahomes, by virtue of three Super Bowl rings, is going to be held to an insanely high standard. When he loses, particularly in blowout fashion, he’s going to get crushed for it. It’s not necessarily fair, but expected. Allen, Jackson and Burrow, though, are on the same playing field. But Allen hasn’t really been treated similarly.

The week before the AFC Championship, Jackson led a touchdown drive late in the game against Allen’s Bills. Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens were a two-point conversion away from tying the score. His tight end, Mark Andrews, dropped the pass, which was in his gut. But after the game, Chris Simms blamed Jackson for throwing an “inaccurate” pass. He’s always at fault for the Ravens’ postseason losses.

Burrow threw 300 yards and three touchdowns in five Cincinnati Bengals’ defeats in 2024. In those affairs, he led the Bengals to 170 combined points (34 points per game). He posted 1,809 yards, 18 touchdown passes and two interceptions in those losses. Since then, Chris Canty has claimed Burrow is “not an elite quarterback.” Additionally, Shannon Sharpe insisted Burrow “didn’t play well enough.”

No one is saying Jackson should be absolved of his mistakes in Baltimore’s loss. When Burrow’s poor play causes Cincinnati to lose, he should be criticized. However, when Buffalo loses, Allen is never deemed to be the primary culprit. He completed just 30% (9/30) of his passes in a loss to the Houston Texans last season. Compared to Jackson and Burrow’s missteps, that performance is hardly mentioned. Allen is a tremendous player. He will likely become a Super Bowl champion one day. But what makes him so immune to the same criticism that other elite quarterbacks are subjected to?