“I remember thinking, ‘Do I have to scrub the blood out of the carpet before I leave?”
If you’re a new parent running on fumes and wondering when the exhaustion will let up, Josh Allen wants you to know — he’s right there with you.
The Buffalo Bills quarterback spoke to reporters on April 20 as the team began voluntary minicamp, and while football was on the agenda, it was clear his heart was somewhere else entirely.
Allen and his wife, Hailee Steinfeld, announced the birth of their first child, a baby girl, on April 2. And the 29-year-old father is not pretending it’s been easy.
“I mean, no,” he said when asked if he’s getting enough sleep with a baby in the house. “But I wouldn’t want any other way. It’s very rewarding.”
Josh Allen Speaks Highly of Fatherhood
For anyone who has stared at the ceiling at 3 a.m. rocking a newborn and thought, “This is the hardest, most beautiful thing I’ve ever done,” Allen’s words hit close to home.
“It definitely changes [your] mindset a little bit,” he said of being a first-time dad. “I’m very excited. I do think this is going to be the best version of myself in all aspects—in my professional career and my personal life. It’s such a blessing.”
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And this isn’t the first time Allen, who turns 30 on May 21, has been candid about what becoming a dad means to him. During a January 29 press conference, he laid it out with striking clarity.
“This is the most important thing I’ll ever be in my life, is being a dad,” Allen said. “I love being a football player, and I love being a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, but I’m looking forward to this one.”
“It’s something that I will take with great pride, and we’re going to have to figure out things on the go just like anything else,” he added.
That line — figuring things out on the go — might be the most relatable sentence any new parent can hear. There is no playbook for this. You just show up and learn together.
Josh Allen Calls Hailee Steinfeld a ‘Rockstar’
Allen was quick to credit Steinfeld, also 29, for making this transition possible, especially as he returned to team activities.
“I’ve got an absolute rockstar of a wife that’s doing so many things right now and allowing me to be here right now and be with my teammates. So yes, special times,” he said on April 20.
The admiration clearly runs both ways. Just days before Allen’s press conference, Steinfeld opened up about a milestone the couple shared as brand-new parents — attending a wedding together.
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The wedding, held on April 3 for Super Bowl champion Sam Darnold and Katie Hoofnagle — both “close friends” of Allen and Steinfeld — was the couple’s first outing as a family of three.
“This was our first time attending a wedding as husband and wife (and mom and dad!), and everything hit differently,” Steinfeld wrote in her April 17 Beau Society Substack post.
Any new parent who has experienced a familiar event through the lens of parenthood knows exactly what she means. The vows land harder. The toasts feel fuller. Everything shifts.
“The love in the air felt palpable and reminiscent,” she added. “And I actually don’t think there’s anything more fun than being at a wedding with your husband! 10/10 recommend.”
A Love Story Rooted in Buffalo
Allen and Steinfeld were first linked in May 2023, according to Us Weekly.
The couple announced their engagement on Instagram one week after Allen got down on one knee on November 22, 2024, and made their red carpet debut a few months later at the 2025 NFL Honors.
They tied the knot on March 31, 2025, before announcing their pregnancy on December 12, 2025.
And Allen is planting roots. He told the Associated Press he plans to raise his family in Buffalo, New York — the city he’s called home for nearly a decade.
“It’s where I’ve done a lot of growing up. And it’s a place that I’ll raise a family. It’s really cool,” he said.
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As for how he feels about this new chapter: “Overjoyed, absolutely overjoyed.”
