Josh Allen will not play in Bills preseason opener

Quarterback Josh Allen will not be on the field when the Bills open their preseason slate against the Giants.

Head coach Sean McDermott told reporters in his Thursday press conference that Allen will rest on Saturday, with Mitchell Trubisky getting the start at quarterback. But other healthy starters will play in the contest.

“Josh will not play this week. The starters, the ones, will play give or take one quarter, and then it’ll flow from there,” McDermott said.

McDermott noted the benefit of this plan is to get Trubisky some time with the starters, as that’s the group he would be playing with should something happen to Allen during the regular season.

“That’s huge,” McDermott said. “Certainly want to be mindful of Josh, mindful of any starter — any of our players, we never want to see them get injured. The benefit of this, we hold Josh out, we keep him in a good spot. He’s been playing extremely well in camp — you guys have been out here — and we get a chance to look at Mitch and some of the other quarterbacks. We’ll gain live action with the ones, in this case, for Mitch.”

Allen has started every game for the Bills since the 2019 season. Trubisky appeared in nine games last season, mainly in mop-up work, though he did play the majority of the Week 18 matchup against the Patriots. He completed 19-of-26 passes for 179 yards with two touchdowns and no picks in 2024.

Kickoff for the matchup between Buffalo and New York is set for 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.