Edge rusher | Kentucky | Senior

Height: 6-foot-5 | Weight: 262 pounds

College Stats

2018: Played and started in all 13 games; recorded team-high 88 tackles with 17 sacks (1.31 sacks per game ranked second in FBS), 21.5 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles (tied for second in the nation) and two fumble recoveries; named a consensus First-Team All-American; was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2018; earned First-Team All-SEC honors; became first player in school history to win each of four major national Defensive Player of the Year awards (Nagurski, Bednarik, and Lambert Awards, along with the Lott IMPACT Trophy)

Career: The reliable edge rusher played in all 51 career games, starting 35 of them; recorded team-high 224 tackles with 31.5 sacks (school record), 41.5 tackles for loss (second in school history), 11 forced fumbles (tied school record), two fumble recoveries, one interception and one blocked kick; named a consensus First-Team All-American in 2018; earned First-Team All-SEC honors as a senior

Profile

Summary: Allen fits the lean and long mold for a prototypical linebacker that NFL teams want these days as he is 6-foot-5 and north of 250 pounds. He is an athletic specimen who turned those traits into plenty of production in college. Projected to be a top-10 of even top-5 selection in the draft, Allen has the potential to be a game-changing edge rusher that teams covet.

Lance Zierlein of NFL.com wrote that Allen is a "true hybrid linebacker with elite physical traits who has the ability to float between coverage and pass rush duties. Allen's diverse skill set could offer a creative defensive mind a fun toy to deploy around the field, but his NFL value will rest in his ability to menace the pocket as 3-4 rush linebacker. He's fine-tuned a couple of go-to rush moves but will need to continue to diversify his rush portfolio as a pro."

Allen's full scouting report on NFL.com can be found **here**.

Stacking up: NFL Media analyst Bucky Brooks and draft analyst Dane Brugler, who writes for The Athletic, both have Allen as the second-best edge rusher behind Nick Bosa. Brooks wrote that Allen **“is a cheetah off the edge,”** while Brugler said there is no debate Allen is **among the elite players** in this draft class. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com had Allen as the third overall player on his **most-recent list** of the Top 50 prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft, which is the same spot he had him before the combine.

Quite the correlation: Allen's 17 sacks in 2018 were good for an average of 1.31 per game that was the second-best rate in Division I FBS. That translated to team success, as Kentucky's defense did not allow a single point on a drive in which Allen recorded a sack.