Dwayne Lamont Allen (born February 24, 1990) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for seven seasons. He played

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for the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the sport, athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level (NCAA Divis ...

, where he won the John Mackey Award as a junior, and was selected by the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

in the third round of the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. Allen spent his first five seasons with the Colts and was a member of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

in his final two. During his Patriots tenure, he made two consecutive

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appearances and won

Super Bowl LIII Super Bowl LIII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2018 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Confe ...

Early life

Allen was born in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-Ameri ...

. He attended Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, and played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

for the Terry Sanford Bulldogs. During his career, he had 68 receptions for 1,257 yards.

College career

Allen attended

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

, where he played for the

Clemson Tigers football The Clemson Tigers football program are the American football team at Clemson University. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of the Atlantic Coast Con ...

team from 2008 to 2011. He was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2008. In 2009, he started six of 14 games and had 10 receptions for 108 yards and three

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. He started all 13 games in 2010 and was a second-team All-ACC selection after recording 33 receptions for 373 yards with a touchdown. Through the first seven games of his junior season, Allen had 27 receptions for 381 yards and four touchdowns. Allen was named the 2011 recipient of the John Mackey Award on December 8, 2011, at the Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Show. He graduated from Clemson on August 9, 2014.

Professional career

Indianapolis Colts

Allen was drafted in the third round with the 64th overall pick by the

in the

. He was the second tight-end taken in the draft as well as the second taken by the Colts. He helped fellow rookie Andrew Luck lead the Colts to an 11–5 record. Despite their draft positions, Allen actually bested his teammate (taken 34th overall), Coby Fleener, in overall production ranking 7th best among the league's rookie receiving leaders. Allen and fellow rookie teammates T. Y. Hilton, Fleener, Vick Ballard, and

LaVon Brazill LaVon Brazill (born March 15, 1989) is an American former professional gridiron football, football player who was a wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio Bobcats ...

combined for an NFL record 3,108 yards – the most by any rookie class playing for an NFL club since the 1970 NFL merger. The second best performance was the Colts' 1999 rookie class with 2,751 yards. Allen finished the 2012 season with 521 receiving yards on 45 catches, and 3 touchdowns. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team. Allen was intended to be a large part of new Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton's offense in 2013, but was placed on the injured reserve following a hip injury in the first game of the season. He finished the season with one catch for 20 yards and a touchdown. Allen battled a knee injury late in the 2014 season, but started 13 games for the Colts and finished with 29 receptions, 395 yards, and 8 touchdowns. On November 8, 2015, Allen was poked in the eye by

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

' cornerback Aqib Talib. Talib was given a one-game suspension for the incident the following day. On December 30, 2015, Allen was placed on injured reserve. On March 7, 2016, Allen signed a four-year, $29.4 million extension with the Colts.

New England Patriots

On March 9, 2017, the Colts traded Allen and a 2017 sixth-round draft pick to the

for a 2017 fourth-round draft pick. The trade was the first between the Colts and Patriots since 1985. On November 12, on ''Sunday Night Football'', Allen made his first reception with the Patriots when he caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New Engla ...

. The play made Allen the 68th NFL player to catch a touchdown from Brady. Allen reached

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. As a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX from 13 years earlier, the game was between the National Football Conferen ...

with the Patriots, but lost 41–33 to the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

. Allen was again not a part of the Patriots offense in 2018, as he only had three catches for 27 yards during the season, although he was praised by the team for his blocking. Allen did win

when the Patriots defeated the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

13–3. On March 2, 2019, Allen was released by the Patriots.

Miami Dolphins

On March 9, 2019, Allen was signed by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

to a two-year, $6.5 million deal. He was released with an injury settlement on August 31, 2019.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

References

External links

*
Clemson Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Dwayne 1990 births Living people Players of American football from Fayetteville, North Carolina American football tight ends Clemson Tigers football players All-American college football players Indianapolis Colts players New England Patriots players Miami Dolphins players