Josh Allen has had to get creative with his offseason work.
The Buffalo Bills’ quarterback is currently in California, one of the states hard hit by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has paralyzed the country and disrupted life as we know it.
Allen’s creative workouts during quarantine
Allen is still working out with his personal quarterback coach, Jordan Palmer, but those workouts look far different as they adhere to social-distancing guidelines.
“We’re throwing on a beach with selected receivers, only two to three of them who we know and quarantined as well and keeping our distance,” Palmer said this week during an appearance on The MMQB NFL Podcast hosted by Albert Breer. “It’s just weird times and we’re trying to get some work in.”
With the increasing likelihood that there will be no spring practices for NFL teams, Palmer has dialed back the amount of on-field work he’s trying to get done.
“Usually we’re throwing twice a week and building to four days a week as guys build to OTAs,” he said. “I said, ‘Let’s go back down to two because if we’re doing this indefinitely, I don’t want anyone to start peaking and getting their arm in great shape. Let’s just throw enough to work on specific things, but arm conditioning is not one of them. Arm care is.’
Josh Allen working on deep ball
Doing a lot of stuff before and after we throw, working on the foundational things that make up their throwing motion. Then they go with the trainers and are working on the rest of the body and movement. I’m always picking one thing to work on and once that becomes muscle memory, we move to the next thing as opposed to thinking about 15 things at once.”
With Josh Allen, the deep ball has been the offseason theme he has been working on, Palmer said. This will be key after the Bills acquired Stefon Diggs in a recent trade.
“Just focusing on keeping his shoulder level. If you look at him at any point right now, his shoulder level is going to be far more parallel to the ground, then horizontal then leaning back where the front shoulder tips up,” he said. “We’ve spent a lot of time and he’s talked to some other folks, too. We’ve put a plan together. We’re a month or two into it and I think it’s going to be a big improvement this year.”
Staying connected with others is key
The other thing Palmer has tried to get his clients to do is build better relationships with teammates. This is a group that also includes Jets quarterback Sam Darnold
“If you can really talk and communicate more with the defensive leaders more than you normally would this time of year, you can build deeper relationships,” he said. “It’s kind of all you can do to help your team because you can’t really organize collectively as a group. You can’t throw and get timing. The only chance you have to get better is communicate more and stay closer through this. That’s what I’ve been pushing guys to do. Improve the things you can control.
“(Allen and Darnold) are making multiple calls a day connecting with guys. It doesn’t cost you anything. You’ve got plenty of free time and you know everyone else has free time. I just told them if you’re going to compete this time of year, you’re limited on what you can do with yourself and limited on what you can do with teammates physically, you can communicate better than every other team in the league. This whole league is about creating advantages for your team.”
This article was first published by The Buffalo News.
