Overview Allen is an inside linebacker with good toughness and intangibles but lacks the speed and instincts teams look for in the middle. He plays with good short-area quickness and a willingness to stick his nose into oncoming traffic in order to leverage his gap and set his teammates up for success. With adequate athleticism and the potential to become a core special teamer, Allen could hear his name called in the later rounds of the draft.
Strengths
- Redeemed himself after facing tremendous personal adversity
- Elected team captain in both years after his return to the program
- Coachable and leads by example with team-first approach
- Feet are active and ready post-snap
- Rushes downhill, attacking pull and iso blocks to leverage gap and do his part for the scheme
- Adequate short-area burst to scrape
- Consistent to sink and explode through ball carriers as tackler
- Well-conditioned and doesn't fatigue easily in up-tempo conference
- Comfortable dropping in space and mirroring quarterback's eyes
- Soft hands with four career interceptions.
Weaknesses
- Instincts need work from the middle
- Misses opportunities to go gap-shooting for the tackle for loss
- More race than pace in flow to the football
- Runs to a spot rather than feeling the ball-carrier's intentions
- Over-commits and misses potential run fits
- Below-average slipping and disengaging from blocks
- Missing big closing burst in sideline-to-sideline pursuit
- Chomps on play-fakes and gets baited out of position
By Lance Zierlein (NFL.COM)