Buffalo Bills GM does not dismiss rookie QB Josh Allen starting

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane did not dismiss the notion of quarterback Josh Allen receiving early playing time this season.

The Bills traded up from the 12th overall pick with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday to acquire the Wyoming quarterback with the seventh pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.

"We're not going to rush him, but you know if he somehow wins the job, he wins it," Beane said, via NewYorkUpstate.com. "There's other players out there. There will be 52 other players out there and if they see that he's clearly the best, I don't think we could do that. We wouldn't do that at any other position, so we'll let it go. But he's got a lot of catching up to do, that's the thing."

AJ McCarron and Nathan Peterman are the other quarterbacks on the roster, although both have combined for fewer than 200 passes in the NFL. Both quarterbacks have been working with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll when the offseason conditioning program started, however.

"My goal is to help this team win football games, whether that's being the starter day one, game six, game 10, a year from now, two years from now, or just being a backup to AJ or Nate," Allen told the newspaper. "That's what I'm going to be; I'm going to be the best teammate possible."

Listed at 6-foot-5, 237 pounds, Allen ran the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine in 4.75 seconds with a 33 1/2-inch vertical jump. He threw for 1,966 yards with 19 touchdowns last season with Wyoming.

The Bills signed McCarron to a two-year deal one week after sending fellow quarterback Tyrod Taylor to the Cleveland Browns last month.

McCarron appeared in 11 games for the Bengals as the backup to Andy Dalton, though he did start the final three games of the 2015 season and helped Cincinnati reach the playoffs when Dalton broke his thumb.

McCarron completed 66.4 percent of his passes in seven appearances during the 2015 regular season and threw six touchdown passes. In his lone playoff start, he completed 23 of 41 passes for 212 yards, one touchdown and one interception in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Peterman struggled mightily in his first career start, throwing five interceptions in a 54-24 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11. The 23-year-old completed 24 of 49 passes for 252 yards with two touchdowns and five picks in parts of four games last season.