It was his first kickoff return in 3,158 days.
So you can understand if Devon Allen wasn’t completely comfortable as he fielded Lucas Havrisik’s opening kickoff Thursday night in the Eagles-Colts preseason game.
“A little bit of nerves,” Allen said. “It’s my first kickoff return in probably seven or eight years.”
Allen’s last kickoff return was actually nearly nine years ago -- Jan. 1, 2015, a 20-yarder in Marcus Mariota and Oregon’s 59-20 win over Ronald Darby, Jameis Winston and Florida State in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
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Allen, the two-time Olympic hurdles finalist, muffed the kick, scooped it back up, ran left toward the sideline, got bottled up at the 15-yard-line, broke a tackle, then reversed field and ran right for 73 yards to set up the Eagles’ initial touchdown.
For a guy trying desperately to extend his improbable football career, it was the kind of play that gets you noticed.
“I’m not going to hear the end of it from some of my track friends getting caught,” he said. “But that’s OK. Adrenaline’s crazy. My legs felt super heavy at the end of that run. I feel like I couldn’t move.”
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Allen missed the first two weeks of training camp after suffering a calf injury while training for the U.S. Track Championships, and that’s time he really couldn’t afford to miss.
But just like in Cleveland last year, when he caught a 55-yard pass from Reid Sinnett to really show what he’s capable of, his 73-yard kick return – and several other big plays – demonstrated why Allen is such an intriguing player.
“I think I’m a lot better (than last year)” Allen said at his locker after the game. “I think confidence-wise, a lot better, and I think just understanding the game, what’s expected of me, and I think Nick (Sirianni) does a great job does a great job of giving you a job description of what’s expected on every play, what’s expected at your position, your job, and then kind of understanding that and trying to get a role here and keep growing my role here.
“I’m just doing my best. Overall, I feel a lot more confident just moving around and I feel like I’m a football player again.”
Allen hadn’t played since 2016 when he resumed his football career last year, while simultaneously continuing as one of the top high hurdlers in the world.
He spent last year on the practice squad, but do the Eagles want to keep a 28-year-old who’s never played in a regular-season game on the practice squad for another year?
Final cuts are Tuesday and Allen said he doesn’t know what’s next.
“To be honest, I have no clue,” he said. “It’s tough because our offense is so high-powered, there’s a lot of good guys on the offense. … I’m trying to do my best in the job description given to me … and I think today obviously helped. But I think my goal is to just continue to get better and I think with more reps and stuff like that I think I can do that.”
Allen, who also had a terrific tackle for no gain on Amari Rodgers as a gunner on punt coverage and caught a short pass Thursday, said he remains committed to pursuing both sports, although his summer shows how hard that is. When he hurt his calf, it forced him to drop out of the U.S. Nationals, the qualifying meet for this week’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. So the one injury hurt both his track and football careers.
If he had made the U.S. team would he have left training camp and zipped to Hungary to race this past Sunday and Monday and tried to get back in time for the Colts game?
“Not sure,” he said. “I talked to Howie (Roseman) and Nick a little bit about it and obviously they want me here during training camp and obviously I want to be there because I want to make the team but also competing at a world championship is a big event and a big deal as well.
“The No. 1 goal would have been to try to balance both, like playing the first preseason game and then five days before the world champs go try to compete and come back. I mean, is that realistic? Probably not. Would I have tried it? Maybe.”
To understand what Allen is giving up by playing football, consider that he’s the 3rd-fastest hurdler in world history with his 12.84 in New York last summer. This year he’s No. 5 in the world with a 13.04 (and second place at Worlds was 13.07). Next year is an Olympic year and Allen said he plans to race at the U.S. Trials to try and make his third Olympic team.
It’s hard enough playing one sport at an elite level. Allen is trying to do it in two sports, and he said Thursday night he plans to continue with both.
“Yeah, that's the goal,” he said. “I mean, it's not easy. And obviously it's not easy to make an NFL team doing football half the time. And I understand that. So my goal is to kind of continue to grow my football load offseason, during season, and just keep getting better.
“Athletically, I think I can play in the NFL, just with my skill and attributes, but these guys are beasts in the NFL. They spend their whole life training and working. You watch A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, they're top 100 players in the NFL for a reason. To say I'm there, I can't say I'm there. I'm not even close.”
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