Broncos Place Rookie OLB Christopher Allen on Season-Ending IR
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Christopher Allen's rookie campaign is over before it began. Amid a series of roster moves, the Denver Broncos placed the undrafted outside linebacker on season-ending injured reserve.
The team, in corresponding transactions, also signed running backs JaQuan Hardy and Stevie Scott and designated RB Tyreik McCallister as waived/injured, it announced Wednesday.
Denver's decision to mothball Allen, 24, likely stems from the foot injury he suffered during his final season at Alabama — the injury that landed him on the Physically Unable to Perform list to start training camp. He was removed from the list on July 29 but remained limited in practice.
"We’re just going to rest [him] because for him, it’s just been so long since he’s played football," head coach Nathaniel Hackett said on Aug. 4. "So, for him, banging a little bit the other day, we just want to be sure to rest him and slowly work him in.”
Allen was an effective edge rusher for the Crimson Tide, tallying 34 solo tackles, 18.5 tackles-for-loss, 6.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles. However, the 6-foot-3, 241-pound defender simply could not stay healthy, missing much of last year with an aforementioned foot fracture and all of 2018 due to a knee issue.
The injury jacket plummeted Allen's stock and he went unselected in April's draft. Denver subsequently signed him as a college free agent, guaranteeing $180,000 of a four-year contract.
A developmental stash, Allen should return to full health in time for the 2023 offseason program.
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