Sudden Spotlight: Kyle Allen - Who Is the WFT QB?
Cam Newton was visibly playing injured against Tampa Bay during the September 12, 2019 NFL Thursday night contest.
Suddenly Kyle Allen was named the Carolina Panther’s starter for week 3 and plunged into action.
Allen and the Panthers won four straight games as Allen’s passing resulted in seven touchdowns and no interceptions in the four games.
However, over the next nine games the Panthers lost seven times, as Allen threw 16 interceptions.
Fast forward one calendar year and this morning, after not taking a snap in the first four games, in his first season with Washington as the backup quarterback, Allen has been abruptly propelled into the Washington Football sudden spotlight.
Kyle Allen To Start, But He's Not the Answer
Allen, 24, was born March 8, 1996 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Playing his high school football at Desert Mountain High in Scottsdale, Kyle passed for 8,000 yards and 86 touchdowns he was graded a 5-Star college recruit and signed with Texas A&M in 2014, citing he wanted to play in the SEC.
He had played two seasons (2014-15) in College Station, completing 58.5 percent of his passes for 3,532 yards, 33 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Yet, alluding to what Allen felt was a bad culture at Texas A&M, he and fellow QB Kyler Murray, both transferred from the Aggies in the same week, and sent shockwaves through SEC media outlets.
While Murray transferred to Oklahoma, Allen relocated to Houston.
Kyle completed an impressive 76.2 percent of his 105 attempts in 2017.
However, during a home loss to Texas Tech, Allen was benched; it was his last college start.
Strangely, Allen chose to forego his final year of playing eligibility.
Being a good student, Allen had earned his college degree and could have played at Houston a final year or chosen to transfer and play immediately as graduates are permitted.
Allen Leaves Houston For the NFL Draft
Allen was passed up by all 32 teams, in all seven rounds in the 2018 NFL Draft.
He signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2018 as an undrafted free agent and he was released twice. He was brought back to the practice squad before being promoted to the active roster.
And here we are -- Head Coach Ron Rivera replaces a 2019 first-round draft choice in Haskins for an undrafted backup, who struggled mightily down the stretch of 2019, before being benched for rookie Will Grier.
Rivera Makes First Trade in Washington
I hope the best for Kyle Allen, but simply being in the system last year might not be a good enough reason, as Sam Monson of ProFootballFocus.com (PFF) pointed out Wednesday.
If Haskins were the backup, that would inform me that Rivera feels Haskins is complacent and needs to get his attention. It would be another test to see if Haskins could have a fire lit inside of him, so he responds positively in a week or two.
That didn't happen. Haskins was demoted to the No. 3 QB.
I was so hopeful Haskins was going to develop; already thinking to myself, “Won’t it be nice for Washington to actually use that first-round pick on their next ten-year offensive tackle?”
I found myself actually bringing back memories of Pro-Bowl quality tackles like Chris Samuels, Trent Williams, Joe Jacoby and Jim Lachey.
Honestly, I thought they would stick with Haskins for at least one full season, so right now I am confused.
Deep down based upon the evidence seen thus far, I am already asking, “Does Ron Rivera actually see Kyle Allen as a substantial move forward?”
Oh well, as Jake Russell reminded us all earlier this morning on Twitter:
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Ivan Lambert is a lifelong die-hard Washington Football fan, raised in Berryville, Virginia. He is married and the father of two fine young men. He is currently a sports correspondent for The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida and can be found on Twitter @IvanLambert18
