Allen Could Be A Fit For Eagles

Beau Allen’s NFL.com draft profile states that the former Wisconsin defensive tackle “squats a small house.”

What does that equate to, exactly?

“The most I ever squatted was my junior year, at the end of summer I hit 705 and went double,” said Allen. “It put a lot of strain on my back obviously so I never squatted that much after that, but I’m curious to see if I can get up there again.”

That back strain (and other injuries along the way, including an ankle that required surgery) never kept the 6-2, 335-pound nose tackle out of the Badgers’ line-up. He played in 54 straight games for Wisconsin, a school record. That is likely not lost on Jerry Azzinaro, who recruited Allen out of high school while serving as Chip Kelly‘s defensive line coach at Oregon. Allen, a Minnesota native, ultimately chose Madison over Eugene.

Perhaps they’ll get a chance to work together on the professional level. Azzinaro attended  Wisconsin’s Pro Day last month, turns out, and Allen is under the impression that the Eagles are potential suitors.

“It seems to me like they are pretty interested,” he said. “I guess you really never know how the cards are going to fall until the draft, so I guess we’ll find out then.”

The Eagles are high on Bennie Logan and seem comfortable with him being their starting nose tackle, but would certainly be open to adding competition and depth. Allen, a projected Day 3 pick, has a skill set that could be a match.

“I know they do a lot of two-gapping with their nose guard; that’s something I’m definitely familiar with. Last year at Wisconsin we ran a 3-4 defensive scheme and I was a two-gap, zero-tech nose guard so that’s something I’m comfortable with,” said Allen, who played some fullback on the high school level. “Just looking at their roster and some of the defensive linemen they have on there, they had Bennie Logan in the nose guard spot last year and he’s not a big guy, he’s not just a run-stuffing nose guard, he’s not a 350-pounder.That makes it clear to me that they like a guy at that position that is athletic and can bring more to the table than just run stuffing, and I like to think that I can do that as well.”

Allen wasn’t on the field a ton on obvious passing downs last season and finished with 20 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks. He was not invited to the combine. The snub admittedly bothered him but served as motivation. He performed well at his pro day: his 31-inch vertical would have ranked fourth among defensive tackles in Indianapolis; and he benched 225 pounds 30 times, which would have ranked seventh.

He has had three private workouts since that showing and has a total of 10 visits lined up.

“It went well. I thought I did well at my pro day so I’m glad [Azzinaro] got to see that,” said Allen.

“Philadelphia is a place I’d love to be.”