Introduction
Jonathan Allen (born January 16, 1995) is an American football defensive tackle for the Washington Football Team of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama and was drafted by Washington, then known as the Redskins, in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Early years
Allen was born in Anniston, Alabama, and lived in Seattle, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Maryland before settling down in Ashburn, Virginia, where he attended Stone Bridge High School. As a senior in 2012, he was the Virginia Gatorade Football Player of the Year. During his career, he had 308 tackles and 44 sacks. Allen was a five-star recruit and was ranked amongst the top of his class. He committed to play college football for the University of Alabama.
College career
Allen played in 13 games as a true freshman at Alabama in 2013 and had 16 tackles. As a sophomore in 2014, he played in all 14 games and made 12 starts. He was named first team All-SEC after recording 33 tackles and 5.5 sacks. As a junior in 2015, Allen started all 14 games for the Crimson Tide, who won the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship over the Clemson Tigers by a score of 45–40.
Statistics
| Year | Games played | Tackles | For loss | Sacks | Forced fumbles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 0.5 | 1 |
| 2014 | 14 | 32 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 2015 | 14 | 36 | 14.5 | 12 | 2 |
| 2016 | 15 | 69 | 16 | 10.5 | 0 |
| Totals | 50 | 152 | 44.5 | 28 | 3 |
Professional career
Coming out of Alabama, Allen was projected to be a top five pick by some NFL draft experts. His stock began to decline after teams became concerned when he was diagnosed with arthritis in one of his shoulders and had surgery on both, two weeks before the combine. He was ranked as the top defensive tackle by Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Focus, and NFLDraftScout.com. ESPN ranked him the second best defensive end behind Myles Garrett. Even with the arthritis diagnosis, Allen was projected to be a first round pick by analysts and scouts.
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand size | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 2 ⁄8 in (1.90 m) |
286 lb (130 kg) |
33 ⁄8 in (0.85 m) |
9 ⁄8 in (0.24 m) |
5.00 s | 4.50 s | 7.49 s | 30 in (0.76 m) |
9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) |
21 reps | |||
| All values from NFL Combine | ||||||||||||
The Washington Redskins selected Allen in the first round, 17th overall, of the 2017 NFL Draft. On May 11, 2017, the Redskins signed Allen to a four-year, $11.59 million contract that included a fully guaranteed signing bonus of $6.57 million. Allen recorded his first career sack in a Week 3 game against the Oakland Raiders. In Week 6, he suffered a Lisfranc injury against the San Francisco 49ers. He later underwent surgery and was placed on injured reserve on October 19, 2017.
Allen returned for the 2018 season and started all 16 games. He recorded eight sacks, 61 total tackles, and 15 quarterback hits. On April 27, 2020, the Redskins exercised the fifth-year option on Allen's contract.