Loser: Jonathan Allen unimpressive in workouts, medical issue a cause for concern
Considered by most draft analysts as a top-five lock heading into the combine, a couple of issues could drop Jonathan Allen’s stock significantly.
The first issue, which is much more pressing as far as teams are concerned, is that Allen’s medical showed he has an arthritic shoulder. Not surprisingly, Allen brushed this issue aside and told reporters he isn’t concerned about longevity in the NFL.
“The shoulder feels good. Every doctor said if there’s a problem, it’s after football, way after football. I have no concerns with it at all,” Allen said at the NFL Scouting Combine, per Chase Goodbread of NFL.com. “… They said I have some arthritis in my left shoulder. It’s not really a problem now, but it might be a problem 15, 20 years down the road so I’m not worried about that right now. I’m worried about playing good for whichever team I go to.”
Unfortunately for Allen, while he doesn’t see it as a concern NFL teams reportedly do.
Talking to scouts about Jonathan Allen. Definite concerns about shoulders. Feeling he'll drop to 12-17 range.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) March 5, 2017
On top of that comes the secondary issue, which is that Allen wasn’t all that impressive in drills or on the field during the combine. He was among the slowest defensive linemen on the track (five seconds flat), wasn’t particularly strong on the bench (21 reps) and wasn’t explosive in his jumps or particularly fluid on the field.
His tape speaks for itself. Allen is very disruptive. That said, there is no doubt his stock dropped during his stay in Indianapolis this past week.