Devon Allen gives an electrifying glimpse of what he can be

[time2rock]

Devon Allen gives an electrifying glimpse of what he can be

 

 

 

Reuben Frank

EAGLES INSIDER

Devon Allen kept clinging to the belief that if he worked hard, listened to his coaches and stayed focused on improving every day, things would eventually click.

That can be hard to do when your practice reps are few and far between. But Allen stuck to the plan, and on Sunday afternoon, it paid off.

On his first offensive snap in the Eagles-Browns preseason game at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, Allen sprinted past one-time Eagle cornerback Lavert Hill on a deep post route, found himself wide open in the middle of the field and ran under a bomb from Reid Sinnett for a 55-yard touchdown.

"It’s hard to explain that feeling,” Allen said. "During the game, I feel like I black out. Just fun. I was super excited. I saw A.J. (Brown) ran 60 yards down the sideline to celebrate with me, which was pretty cool. Pretty amazing.”

It was Allen’s first catch in an organized football game since Sept. 10, 2016, when he caught four passes for 141 yards in Oregon’s win over Virginia at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore.

To understand how big this was for Allen you have to understand just how hard the first few weeks of training camp were.

He went right from the track and field World Championships to training camp and looked lost trying to make plays against pro cornerbacks who’ve spent their lives playing football.

"To be honest, the first couple weeks - I was explaining it to Britain Covey - you watch one of those military movies and a grenade goes off and their heads are ringing, and that’s how I felt in the huddle the first couple weeks,” he said.

"Just trying to listen to the call, understand my assignment, figure out what I’m doing and then make a good play on the field and be a football player. And as I’m starting to get more comfortable with the offense – with the help of Smitty (DeVonta Smith) and A.J. and watching those guys do what they’re supposed to do correctly – I’m starting to feel more comfortable every day and just trying to make the most of my opportunities and my reps and continue to get better.

"My No. 1 thing is I haven’t played football in a long time and there’s a lot for me to learn and a lot for me to do in order to make the football team … but I’m enjoying it because this is a game I love and something that I missed for six years so I’m glad to be back.”

Allen has world-class speed – his 12.84 hurdles time earlier this summer is 3^rd-fastest in history – but he didn’t look fast the first few weeks of camp. When you’re not comfortable and don’t know the offense and haven’t played in a long time, you’re going to be tentative, and when you’re tentative your natural athleticism is buried.

As he’s knocked off the rust and started to learn how to be a pro football player, he’s gradually started making a few plays and getting his confidence and swagger back. And he’s started to look fast.

What was he thinking when the ball was in the air?

"It’s my ball,” he said. "I’ve played football for a long time so that doesn’t really change. Reid made a great throw, it’s probably a 55-, 60-yard pass, and Reid has a strong arm so I’m glad it got there, it made it easy on me. I could just catch it in the end zone and lay on the ground.”

Allen celebrated the touchdown by hurdling back to the sideline – that was tight end Tyree Jackson’s idea – and to see how overjoyed his teammates were, you can tell this is somebody everybody is rooting for.

"I’ve got a lot to learn, I’m nowhere even close, and it’s crazy the talent we have on this football team,” Allen said. "We’ve got 10 guys in there who are starters somewhere in the NFL and it’s a hard team to make and I’m doing my best to progress and do my best, that’s all I can do. 

"Obviously, I want to get reps and I want to play, but I also appreciate the fact that it’s been six years and it’s not going to come back right away.”

But it is starting to come back. We saw it Sunday.

"Felt great,” he said. "Just glad to have the opportunity, glad to be here, just enjoying my time here. We have a lot of great receivers, a lot of great football players, so my learning curve is accelerated being on a good football team the last three weeks and I’m just starting to feel a little bit more comfortable.

"Glad I got the chance to make a play and hopefully I get more chances in the future. But just going to keep working and get better.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/devon-allen-leads-eagles-win-scores-his-first-touchdown-during-preseason-game

[eggs]

Well, I guess he may merit a PS spot for more study after one play against third string dbs. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

On 8/22/2022 at 3:26 PM, eggs said:

Well, I guess he may merit a PS spot for more study after one play against third string dbs. 

Either that or I guess another team may take a punt on him? I doubt it but either way I think he'll get a chance on a PS.

[eagle45]

"Allen has world-class speed – his 12.84 hurdles time earlier this summer is 3^rd-fastest in history – but he didn’t look fast the first few weeks of camp. When you’re not comfortable and don’t know the offense and haven’t played in a long time, you’re going to be tentative, and when you’re tentative your natural athleticism is buried."

I generally dislike this guy's input, but I love this paragraph.  Athleticism and explosion really can be washed away if you are mentally swimming.