Dilfer: Allen is a 'Dude'
Include Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer as those who aren’t surprised by the success of Kyle Allen.
In a recent radio interview, Dilfer – who won Super Bowl XXXV with the Baltimore Ravens – explained that Allen always had the goods to be a top-tier NFL quarterback. What he didn’t have, however, was enough video to prove it due to a combination of transferring to multiple colleges, coaching changes and being overshadowed by bigger names.
Still, Dilfer says the goods were always there, going back to the relationship they formed when Allen was the top-rated quarterback coming out of Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Dilfer was the head coach for the Elite 11 quarterback camp.
“The more people spend time around Kyle, the more they realize he’s a dude,” said Dilfer, who followed up his 14-year NFL career with a 12-year stint as a television analyst. “We also say ‘DQ’ – Dude Qualities. He’s got everything you want to lead your team. He’s a really talented player who didn’t have a lot of tape, but had all the other stuff to be successful.”
Allen has definitely been successful during his first four starts with the Panthers this season, going 4-0 while passing for 901 yards and seven touchdowns without an interception. Including his first career start during a 33-14 win at New Orleans in the 2018 season finale, Allen is 5-0 during his NFL career with no picks.
Few people could've predicted his career when it began as an undrafted free agent in 2018.
“I remember that draft, I was calling teams all over," Dilfer said. "I remember talking to the 49ers, the Panthers, a bunch of teams – like ‘hey, there’s this kid out there. If you’’re looking for a Tony Romo-type story, Kyle could be that guy. He’s got all of things it takes to be a successful NFL quarterback.’ Obviously, Norv Turner and the Panthers felt the same way.
"Now you’re just seeing what a lot of us who know him from high school knew he could do – play the position with precision. Play it from a team-first aspect. Stay in his lane, allow the better players around him to make plays, don’t think you’re the primary playmaker all the time. Be a distributor of the football, and I think that’s what Kyle does as well as anybody.”
That's created plenty of speculation as to what Carolina will do when Cam Newton returns from a foot injury that has sidelined him since a 20-14 loss to Tampa Bay on Sept. 12.
Newton seems poised for a return, yet a definitive timeline has yet to be established. Coach Ron Rivera named Allen the starter for this week's game at the San Francisco 49ers.
But what after that? Dilfer says it comes down first and foremost to one simple question.
“I think it’s what type of football do you want to play?," said Dilfer, who's now the head coach at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tenn. "This isn’t necessarily a Cam Newton versus Kyle Allen discussion, per say. It’s more of a ‘what is our identity offensively?’ You can’t compare their skillsets – you’d be moronic to think that Kyle Allen has the same juice that Cam Newton has.
"But Kyle Allen plays the position in such a way that you play on-time, you play on-schedule, you play with precision. It allows the fullness of your offensive talents – meaning the whole offense – to come out. If Cam can play that type of football at a consistent level, then Cam Newton is your answer."
Click here to listen to the entire interview.
