NFL Analysis
3/26/24
5 min read
Braelon Allen 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Wisconsin RB
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Braelon Allen.
Braelon Allen's 2024 NFL Combine Results
- Height: 6-1 1/4
- Weight: 235
- Bench: 26 reps
- Vertical: 32"
- Broad Jump: 9-9
- Hand size: 9 1/4
- Arm length: 31 1/4
Braelon Allen 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report
Strengths:
- Straight-line, linear downhill runner with excellent size and plus speed; showed burst with a clear runway
- Snaps in which he showed decisive one-cut, downhill cutting ability with a minimum of steps and some burst
- Speed to bounce and clear the perimeter then stride out and accelerate; has take-it-to-the-house long speed
- 2023 — Flashed short-area burst to clear the first level of defense then built up accelerating speed into the secondary
- At times showed excellent contact balance to run through tackles at the second level and then regain speed
- Flashed some natural power to run through and over tacklers while keeping balance; needs to be a strength of his game
Weaknesses:
- Average athlete who ran with almost no power given his size; laterally stiff with poor change-of-direction traits
- A little stiff in his hips and core, not shifty or elusive, and lacks desired lateral agility and quickness in confined spaces
- Slow feet without much juice, did not make sharp, decisive cuts; methodical with one speed and limited burst
- His 2022 tape did not show back who could stop and start and re-accelerate at the second and third levels of a defense
- Tendency to slow down and stop his feet when POA was not clean, which minimized his burst, power and hard yards
- On 2022 tape, Allen did not appear to have the needed feel and instincts as a runner, often indecisive
- He did not show the needed vision on many runs, leaving yards on the field by cutting away from daylight
- Given his size and weight-room strength, he did not show a strong, powerful runner, physically and in mindset
- 2023 – Ran much too straight line and linear; almost no looseness in his hips with little lateral agility
- Tendency to slow down and at times stop his feet in the backfield while looking for a hole
- Continued to be too indecisive and hesitant in the backfield, lacked vision needed to be a high-level runner
- Strong tendency to run like a finesse back more than the power back his size suggests; not a contact runner
- Struggled in pass protection vs. second-level pressure, did not hold his ground and was driven back into the quarterback
NFL Transition
Allen is a significant work in progress as you project him to the next level given his lack of experience as a running back, which shows up consistently on tape. Allen’s Wisconsin tape showed a straight-line, linear downhill runner without much lateral agility or shiftiness. He was too often hesitant and indecisive in the backfield with a lack of innate vision to read blocking schemes, gap fluidity and defensive flow. That resulted in slow feet and sluggishness hitting the hole.
There were clear flashes where the hole was defined or he saw it that resulted in Allen showing short-area burst and explosiveness. That allowed him to generate speed and velocity into the second and third levels of the defense.
Another concern was more often than not he did not run with the kind of power and physicality expected from a 235-pound back. There were too many runs in which he went down too easily on first contact. There were runs in which Allen got downhill with burst and velocity and showed the power that is in his big body, but there were not enough of them. Those kinds of runs must be a foundation of his game if he is to have success at the next level.
Allen is a true north-south downhill runner who at this point, based on his college tape, needs the hole to be defined and a clear runway to maximize his running traits. He needs to become a much better and more physical confined space runner to develop into a primary back at the next level.
Other Notes
Allen was a 4-star recruit coming out of high school as a linebacker and stayed in-state to play for Wisconsin, which switched him to running back. He made an immediate impact as a true freshman, rushing for 1,268 yards. In his three years at Wisconsin, Allen rushed for 3,494 yards with 35 TDs.
In 2022, 177 of Allen’s 230 carries came as an I-back in Wisconsin’s pro-style run game. He has extensive experience in both the zone and gap scheme run games, and Wisconsin featured the center/tackle pull scheme. In 2023 with the change in offensive coordinator to Phil Longo, Allen was a predominant shotgun back with 163 of his 181 carries coming as an offset back in the shotgun.
