Dwayne Lamont Allen[1] (born February 24, 1990) is an American former professional football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football for the Clemson Tigers, where he won the John Mackey Award as a junior, and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft. Allen spent his first five seasons with the Colts and was a member of the New England Patriots in his final two. During his Patriots tenure, he made two consecutive Super Bowl appearances and won Super Bowl LIII.

Dwayne Allen
refer to caption
Allen with the Colts in 2015
No. 83
Position:Tight end
Personal information
Born: (1990-02-24) February 24, 1990 (age 34)
Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.
Height:6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:265 lb (120 kg)
Career information
High school:Terry Sanford (Fayetteville)
College:Clemson (2008–2011)
NFL draft:2012 / round: 3 / pick: 64
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:139
Receiving yards:1,564
Receiving average:11.3
Receiving touchdowns:20
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Early life

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Allen was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He attended Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, and played high school football for the Terry Sanford Bulldogs. During his career, he had 68 receptions for 1,257 yards.

College career

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Allen attended Clemson University, where he played for the Clemson Tigers football team from 2008 to 2011. He was redshirted in 2008. In 2009, he started six of 14 games and had 10 receptions for 108 yards and three touchdowns. He started all 13 games in 2010 and was a second-team All-ACC selection after recording 33 receptions for 373 yards with a touchdown.[2]

Through the first seven games of his junior season, Allen had 27 receptions for 381 yards and four touchdowns.[3]

Allen was named the 2011 recipient of the John Mackey Award on December 8, 2011, at the Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Show. He graduated from Clemson on August 9, 2014.[4]

Professional career

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Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press
6 ft 3+18 in
(1.91 m)
255 lb
(116 kg)
33 in
(0.84 m)
9+58 in
(0.24 m)
4.89 s 1.73 s 2.85 s 4.37 s 7.12 s 32 in
(0.81 m)
9 ft 2 in
(2.79 m)
27 reps
All values from NFL Combine[5][6]

Indianapolis Colts

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Allen in 2016

Allen was drafted in the third round with the 64th overall pick by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2012 NFL draft.[7] He was the second tight-end taken in the draft as well as the second taken by the Colts. He helped fellow rookie Andrew Luck lead the Colts to an 11–5 record.[8] Despite their draft positions, Allen actually bested his teammate (taken 34th overall), Coby Fleener, in overall production ranking 7th best among the league's rookie receiving leaders.[9] Allen and fellow rookie teammates T. Y. Hilton, Fleener, Vick Ballard, and LaVon Brazill combined for an NFL record 3,108 yards – the most by any rookie class playing for an NFL club since the 1970 NFL merger. The second best performance was the Colts' 1999 rookie class with 2,751 yards.[10] Allen finished the 2012 season with 521 receiving yards on 45 catches, and 3 touchdowns.[11] He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.[12] Allen was intended to be a large part of new Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton's offense in 2013, but was placed on the injured reserve following a hip injury in the first game of the season. He finished the season with one catch for 20 yards and a touchdown.[11]

Allen battled a knee injury late in the 2014 season, but started 13 games for the Colts and finished with 29 receptions, 395 yards, and 8 touchdowns.[11] On November 8, 2015, Allen was poked in the eye by Denver Broncos' cornerback Aqib Talib.[13][14][15] Talib was given a one-game suspension for the incident the following day.[16] On December 30, 2015, Allen was placed on injured reserve.[17]

On March 7, 2016, Allen signed a four-year, $29.4 million extension with the Colts.[18][19]

New England Patriots

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Allen with the New England Patriots in 2017

On March 9, 2017, the Colts traded Allen and a 2017 sixth-round draft pick to the New England Patriots for a 2017 fourth-round draft pick.[20][21] The trade was the first between the Colts and Patriots since 1985.[22]

On November 12, on Sunday Night Football, Allen made his first reception with the Patriots when he caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady. The play made Allen the 68th NFL player to catch a touchdown from Brady.[23] Allen reached Super Bowl LII with the Patriots, but lost 41–33 to the Philadelphia Eagles.[24]

Allen was again not a part of the Patriots offense in 2018, as he only had three catches for 27 yards during the season, although he was praised by the team for his blocking. Allen did win Super Bowl LIII when the Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13–3.[25][26]

On March 2, 2019, Allen was released by the Patriots.[27]

Miami Dolphins

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On March 9, 2019, Allen was signed by the Miami Dolphins to a two-year, $6.5 million deal.[28] He was released with an injury settlement on August 31, 2019.[29]

NFL career statistics

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Regular season

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Year Team Games Receiving Rushing Fumbles
GP GS Rec Yds Avg Lng TD Att Yds Avg Lng TD Fum Lost
2012 IND 16 16 45 521 11.6 40 3 3 5 1.7 3 0 1 0
2013 IND 1 1 1 20 20.0 20T 1 0 0
2014 IND 13 13 29 395 13.6 41T 8 1 0
2015 IND 13 12 16 109 6.8 21 1 1 1 1.0 1 0 0 0
2016 IND 14 14 35 406 11.6 23T 6 1 0
2017 NE 16 8 10 86 8.6 22 1 0 0
2018 NE 13 8 3 27 9.0 21 0 0 0
Total 86 72 139 1,564 11.3 41 20 4 6 1.5 3 0 3 0

Postseason

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Year Team Games Receiving Rushing Fumbles
GP GS Rec Yds Avg Lng TD Att Yds Avg Lng TD Fum Lost
2012 IND 1 1 4 51 12.8 22 0 0 0
2014 IND 3 2 11 90 8.2 18 1 0 0
2017 NE 3 0 0 0
2018 NE 3 1 0 0
Total 10 4 15 141 9.4 22 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0

References

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  1. ^ "ESPN Profile". ESPN.com.
  2. ^ 2010 All-ACC Football Teams Announced Archived January 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "ESPN.com stats". Espn.go.com. February 24, 1990. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  4. ^ Wilson, Josh (August 10, 2014). "Dwayne Allen Graduates from Clemson". Stampede Blue. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  5. ^ "Dwayne Allen Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  6. ^ "2012 NFL Draft Scout Dwayne Allen College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  7. ^ "2012 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  8. ^ "2012 NFL Draft Tracker". Nfl.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  9. ^ "NFL Stats: by Player Category". Nfl.com. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  10. ^ Craig Kelley (January 5, 2013). "Outstanding Class". Colts.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  11. ^ a b c "Dwayne Allen NFL Football Statistics". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  12. ^ "2012 NFL All-Rookie Team". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  13. ^ Jones, Lindsay H. (November 9, 2015). "NFL Week 9 overreactions: Broncos exposed?". usatoday.com. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  14. ^ Busbee, Jay (November 8, 2015). "Aqib Talib kills Broncos' chances to defeat Colts with ridiculous eye-gouge". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  15. ^ Spano, Brandon (November 8, 2015). "Broncos Kubiak opens up about Aqib Talib: "He has to keep his composure out there"". bsndenver.com. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  16. ^ Rosenthal, Gregg (November 9, 2015). "Aqib Talib suspended one game for eye-poke". NFL.com. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  17. ^ "Indianapolis Colts place Dwayne Allen on injured reserve". Fox 59. December 30, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  18. ^ "Indianapolis Colts make roster move". blogs.colts.com. March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  19. ^ Florio, Mike (March 7, 2016). "Colts keep Dwayne Allen, on a four-year deal". profootballtalk.nbcsports.com. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  20. ^ "Patriots acquire TE Dwayne Allen in a trade with Indianapolis". Patriots.com. March 9, 2017.
  21. ^ Wesseling, Chris (March 9, 2017). "Colts to trade Dwayne Allen, sixth-rounder to Patriots". NFL.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017.
  22. ^ "First Patriots-Colts trade in 32 years highlights thaw in frosty relations". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  23. ^ "Watch Dwayne Allen's First Catch In Patriots Uniform Go For Touchdown". November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  24. ^ "Super Bowl LII - Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots - February 4th, 2018". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  25. ^ "Hidden Patriots: New England Has Complete Tight End Waiting In The Wings - NESN.com". February 14, 2019.
  26. ^ Shpigel, Ben (February 4, 2019). "Patriots Win in Lowest-Scoring Super Bowl Ever". The New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  27. ^ Williams, Charean (March 2, 2019). "Report: Patriots will release Dwayne Allen". Pro Football Talk. NBC Sports.
  28. ^ Bergman, Jeremy (March 9, 2019). "Dwayne Allen joins Dolphins on two-year, $7M deal". NFL.com.
  29. ^ Williams, Charean (August 31, 2019). "Tank Carradine, Cornell Armstrong, Dwayne Allen out in Miami". ProFootballTalk.NBCSports.com. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
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