We might be on the verge of discovering just how bulletproof Superman is.

With increasing influence over the past eight years, the Buffalo Bills’ success has depended on whether Josh Allen put on his cape.

The Bills banked on their superhero to overcome any deficiencies. The front office cobbled together whatever middling wideouts they could — interchangeable pieces floating in Allen’s orbit. The inability to field a game-changing defensive line didn’t stop the Bills from being perennial Super Bowl contenders not only at the sportsbooks, but also in the owner’s mind.

Allen is otherworldly. He wields a constellation’s worth of star power. Considering his immense popularity, you can argue Allen has more power than anyone at One Bills Drive, including owner Terry Pegula. If Allen were to stand on the steps of City Hall and declare, well, anything, then the public would stand behind him in a second.

But from this point forward, Allen will wear more than a cape. He also will wear the decision about Buffalo’s next head coach. The Bills are giving Allen agency by letting him help interview candidates to replace Sean McDermott.

Involving the franchise quarterback also provides football boss Brandon Beane some cover. Allen’s stamp of approval diffuses potential blame if the new coach doesn’t work out. And after Wednesday morning’s disastrous news conference, Beane could use a high-profile collaborator so he doesn’t feel all alone.

Allen’s role makes him partially responsible for whoever gets the gig.

“He’s earned it,” retired coach Bruce Arians said of Allen’s seat at the interview table. Arians, alongside quarterback Tom Brady, won the Super Bowl five years ago with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Many NFL coaching experts consider this year’s options weak. There are no guarantees, but Allen will be helping the Bills cull an unexceptional list. Arians praised McDermott’s 2025 performance because, he said, the Bills had “their worst roster in the last three years, going into the playoffs” and suggested that a step back appears inevitable.

“I don’t see the candidate pool being that great this year,” Arians said. “A lot of guys maybe getting a second chance, but you’re not going to hire somebody that’s just won a division title five times. They have a lot of building blocks to put back together.

“Who the hell’s behind door No. 2?”

That’s why Kurt Warner is cautious about Allen’s involvement.

Despite all of Warner’s credentials — Pro Football Hall of Fame, Super Bowl MVP, two-time league MVP, Walter Payton Man of the Year — even he wouldn’t feel comfortable helping his team select a head coach. He played for five coaches: Dick Vermeil, Mike Martz, Tom Coughlin, Dennis Green and Ken Whisenhunt. Allen has played eight seasons for one coach.

“I never think it’s a bad thing to have your top guys involved and wanting to be engaged in the process,” Warner said. “But I don’t know if I’m an expert on being able to pick a head coach.

“Sean McDermott was fired. Why was he fired? Does Josh Allen even know exactly why? Because from the outside, it looked like Sean McDermott did so many things right. They’ve got to make sure the next coach does all the same things right and then does the next thing that they’re looking for to put them over the top.”

Warner noted that players, regardless of how popular or talented, don’t know what head coaching truly entails. He stressed the importance of Allen acknowledging that.

Fulfilling the quarterback’s biggest needs doesn’t always align with the organization’s. It’s critical to recognize the difference. Warner, an NFL Network analyst for the past 15 years, added that he doesn’t even feel secure casting his All-Pro vote for position groups with which he’s unfamiliar, such as defensive line, without calling some experts.

“I don’t think we as players,” Warner said, “have an intimate knowledge of all the stuff it takes. I think it’s very difficult to really be part of the process.”

Bills owner Terry Pegula cited Josh Allen’s emotional reaction to the playoff loss as a reason why he fired coach Sean McDermott. (Tina MacIntyre-Yee / Imagn Images)

We haven’t heard from Allen since the Bills fired McDermott. The last time Allen spoke to reporters, he sobbed and took the blame Saturday night after losing in overtime to the Denver Broncos.

Pegula cited Allen’s dejection as a reason McDermott had to go. Pegula’s opening statement attempted to lead us into the theater of the mind, to imagine the sulking husk of a man many of us in the Western New York media actually saw inside the Empower Field at Mile High visitors’ locker room. We saw Allen sob at the lectern, saw him slumped totally within his locker stall with the thousand-yard stare. We watched left tackle Dion Dawkins turn away from reporters in tears and receiver Brandin Cooks bawl.

Could the Bills go too far trying to appease Allen and his teammates?

On his podcast this week, 17-year NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick advised the Bills against hiring a friend to keep Allen happy. They have interviewed Allen’s pal and former Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and reportedly are interested in speaking with Broncos assistant Davis Webb, a former Allen backup the Bills once offered to make their quarterbacks coach because of a tight bond with Allen. On Friday, they also interviewed quarterback Philip Rivers, who came out of retirement this season for a three-game stint with the Indianapolis Colts but whose only coaching experience is at the high school level.

“I just feel like in general, overall this year, if I’m looking at something where I say, ‘Gosh, maybe Josh took a step back this year,’ it was the consistency of that pre-snap command and wizardry, and that’s something that has to be demanded out of him every day,” Fitzpatrick said on his podcast with fellow Amazon Prime analyst Andrew Whitworth.

“The reason why I think they need a veteran coach, somebody with a little bit more of an iron fist, is if you bring in a young, cool, hip head coach, he’s going to be buddies with Josh. He’s going to suck up to Josh. He’s going to go golfing with Josh. That’s not what he needs. That’s not what’s best for his career. What’s best for his career is he has somebody that comes in and pushes him every single day because there is another level that Josh can get to, especially mentally.

“But he has to be coached hard. And if you bring in a young guy, I just don’t see it happening. I see him wanting to be his friend more than his coach.”

In other words, Superman doesn’t need Jimmy Olsen telling him what to do.

The Bills have said we won’t hear from Allen again until after the new coach has been hired.

Even if he disagreed with McDermott’s ouster, Allen almost certainly will be on board with the new coach. A seat at the interview table is as close to equity in an NFL team as an active player will get.

“I would have no problem putting my name on the line for anything that I was confident and comfortable in,” Warner said. “But, as a player, I don’t know what boxes I need to check to make sure this guy’s the right guy. That could be tough to be stamped with.

“Let’s say Josh liked two guys and they hire the third guy. Even if it’s not a guy Josh endorsed, if he was part of the process, he’s still going to be tied to that in some way, shape or form if it doesn’t work out.”

Buffalo fans have agita about squandering Allen’s prime years and how much longer they’ll have him. He’ll turn 30 in May. He dealt with various injuries this season, appearing on the final injury report with foot, knee and finger problems. He absorbed a career-worst 40 sacks.

There always has been an urge to protect and defend him. He is Buffalo’s greatest athlete since 2001, when Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek got sick of inadequate Stanley Cup opportunities and forced a trade, and its finest quarterback since Jim Kelly lost four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s.

No wonder the Bills yearn to keep Allen content and involved.

The Bills last year awarded him the NFL’s richest contract, a six-year, $330 million extension that includes $250 million in guarantees. At an April ceremony for the Bills’ new stadium, Pegula quipped that Allen “now makes more money than I do.”

But Allen — just like McDermott, Beane and Pegula — has been unable to help Buffalo reach a Super Bowl too. In Saturday’s elimination defeat, Allen committed four giveaways, two of them his fault. A sloppy fumble at the end of the first half gifted Denver a field goal in a game that went into overtime and was decided by three points.

Now the face of the franchise will have participated in selecting his own boss, the head coach who likely will define what’s left of a superhero’s prime.