It was a rough, abbreviated year for New York Jets running back Braelon Allen in 2025.
During the Week 4 contest against the Miami Dolphins, Allen suffered a significant MCL sprain that cost him the rest of the season. That injury happened on a kickoff return on Monday Night Football.
On Wednesday, June 10, Brian Costello of the New York Post jokingly asked Allen if his kickoff return days were over.
Allen chuckled before responding, “I’m willing to do whatever they ask me to, but uh, I’m crossing my fingers that they don’t ask me to do that again. But I am more than willing to do whatever is asked of me, of course.”
A New Utilization Plan
Allen, 22, entered the league as the No. 134 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft.
On the Jets’ official roster sheet, Allen is listed at 6-foot-1 and weighs 235 pounds. He has gotten bigger, more on that later.
The Jets’ coaching staff putting their bruising running back in on a kickoff return seemed bizarre in the moment and has made less sense the further we have gotten away from that event.
So hopefully those days are over, but head coach Aaron Glenn revealed how they want to utilize their talented tailback.
“To see him out there, see him run around, to see a big man that is agile, that obviously you know you can use in the run game, but to be able to use him in the passing game. That was the vision with him, Breece [Hall], and Isaiah [Davis] last year. Obviously, that didn’t come to fruition. Man, I’m just looking forward to seeing him get out in camp and be a part of that three-headed monster, is what I call them as far as running backs,” Glenn said.
You wouldn’t think at his size that Allen would be a prolific receiver. If you look at his college stats, he only had 49 career receptions at Wisconsin. However, there may be some untapped potential there.
A Transformation Physically
When Allen first arrived on 1 Jets Drive, he had an impressive physique. Things have reached a new level in 2026.
“I’m about 250 [pounds] right now. I played [between] 238 to 240 [pounds] last year,” Allen revealed to the local media.
“The most lean muscle mass I’ve ever had, the lowest percentage of body fat, [and] perfect symmetry in both of my legs [and] my arms. Everything looked exactly like we wanted it to,” Allen added.
It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.
In the Week 4 2025 contest between the Jets and Dolphins, the green and white flexed their muscles. They marched down the field on a 12-play 82-yard drive in the first quarter. The drive took 7 minutes and 51 seconds off the clock.
Allen was seemingly on his way to punching it into the end zone on that drive for a touchdown, but he fumbled. The next time he touched the ball, he got hurt and was out for the season.
Allen told the local media that it was a “pretty bitter” way to end 2025, and he has been thinking about those final two plays of his season during the offseason.
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