Eagles release Olympian Devon Allen after late roster push

Eagles Insider

Eagles release Olympian Devon Allen after late roster push

The Devon Allen experiment is over. For now.

The Eagles on Tuesday morning released the Olympic hurdler, who made a late roster push but ultimately didn’t do enough to overcome long odds and find a spot on the 53. The news was first reported by Matt Lombardo of Heavy Sports and confirmed by NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark.

Allen signed with the Eagles in April despite not playing organized football since the fall of 2016, his final year at the University of Oregon.

He started training camp off very slowly – as you would expect – and often looked lost the first couple weeks of the preseason.

But something clicked about halfway through camp, and Allen started catching the ball better, and as he grew more comfortable playing football again you started to catch glimpses of his world-class speed.

In the preseason game in Cleveland, he ran away from cornerback Lavert Hill and reeled in a 55-yard touchdown pass from Reid Sinnett, the Eagles’ longest play of the preseason. That turned out to be Allen’s only catch of the preseason.

And in the game in Miami on Saturday, he made several eye-opening plays as a gunner on special teams, most notably racing down the field on a Arryn Siposs punt, muscling Kader Kohou out of the way and racing toward returner Preston Williams, who muffed the punt – which the Eagles recovered.

Even at 27 years old, Allen is an obvious practice squad candidate, and although there is a small chance he’ll get claimed on waivers it’s not very likely. 

Allen, the 3rd-fastest high hurdler in world history with his 12.84 in New York in July, said early in camp he’s committed to football and won’t be deterred if doesn’t make the Eagles 53-man roster.

“I’d like to give it a good go,” he said. “It’s not a one-and-done thing. This is a commitment from me. As long as I feel comfortable playing and feel like I can play good football, I’ll play. There’s a point in everybody’s career where they’re kind of just like, ‘All right, it’s time to go,’ and then that’s the case, but until then, sure, I’m in for the long haul.”

Even with his improvement later in camp, Allen was facing a very difficult battle for a roster spot.

A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins and Zach Pascal have been locks for four of five or a possible six wide receiver spots, with Jalen Reagor, Deon Cain, Britain Covey, John Hightower and Greg Ward also in competition.

The Eagles have been trying to trade Reagor, and they released Ward – their leading receiver in 2020 – on Monday.

Although Allen didn’t make the initial 53, his chances of becoming an NFL player seem much greater now than a month ago.

“Personally, I have the talent, just the physical attributes and talent, to play in the NFL,” he said. “That doesn’t mean a lot. There’s a lot more things that need to happen to be an NFL football player. The mental side and the physical. So that’s something I’m learning now, and hopefully I figure it out.”