Dwayne Lamont Allen (born February 24, 1990) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for seven seasons. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Clemson, where he won the

John Mackey Award The John Mackey Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding tight end. Established in 2000 by the Nassau County Sports Commission, the award is given annually to the tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, a ...

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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft. 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. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in his final two. During his Patriots tenure, he made consecutive Super Bowl appearances and won Super Bowl LIII.

Early years

Allen was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He attended

Terry Sanford High School Terry Sanford High School (formerly known as Fayetteville Senior High School) is a public high school in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It is named after Terry Sanford, who was a North Carolina state senator, Governor of North Carolina, and Unite ...

in Fayetteville, and played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

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 land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

, where he played for the Clemson Tigers football 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. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

. 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

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 64th overall by the

in the 2012 NFL Draft. 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 Andrew Austen Luck (born September 12, 1989) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. One of the most highly touted amateur prospects during hi ...

lead the Colts to an 11–5 record. Despite their draft positions, Allen actually bested his teammate (taken 34th overall),

Coby Fleener Jacoby Fleener (born September 20, 1988) is a former American football tight end. After playing at Joliet Catholic Academy during high school, Fleener played college football at Stanford University. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in th ...

, in overall production ranking 7th best among the league's rookie receiving leaders. Allen and fellow rookie teammates T. Y. Hilton, Fleener,

Vick Ballard Vick Ballard (born July 16, 1990) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Mississippi State, and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts 170th overall in the 2012 NFL Draft. College career Ballard attended Mis ...

, and LaVon Brazill 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. Allen was intended to be a large part of new Colts offensive coordinator

Pep Hamilton Alfonza "Pep" Hamilton (born September 19, 1974) is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the quarterbacks coach for the Los Angeles Char ...

'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 franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

' cornerback

Aqib Talib Aqib Talib (born February 13, 1986) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at the University of Kansas, where he received consensus All-American honors, and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first ro ...

. 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 football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

. 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. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. 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 Super Bowl LIII when the Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 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. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

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

*
New England Patriots bio

Indianapolis Colts bio

Clemson Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Dwayne 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Fayetteville, North Carolina Players of American football from 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 Ed Block Courage Award recipients