Jonathan Allen (born January 16, 1995) is an

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 wi ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the l ...

for the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

of 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 majo ...

(NFL). 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, where he won several defensive player of the year awards during his 2016 season in addition to the

2016 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship was a bowl game that determined a national champion of NCAA Division I FBS college football for the 2015 season. It was played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on Ja ...

. Allen was drafted by Washington in the first round of the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

Early years

Allen was born in

Anniston, Alabama Anniston is the county seat of Calhoun County in Alabama and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 23,106. Ac ...

, and lived in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

before settling down in

Ashburn, Virginia Ashburn is a census-designated place (CDP) in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, its population was 43,511, up from 3,393 twenty years earlier. It is northwest of Washington, D.C., and part of the Washi ...

, where he attended

Stone Bridge High School Stone Bridge High School is a public secondary school in Ashburn, a community in Loudoun County, Virginia. The school is part of Loudoun County Public Schools. Newsweek ranked Stone Bridge the #4 high school in Virginia and the #1 high school i ...

. Allen's parents split up when he was three years old and his mother was granted custody of him and his brother, Richard Allen III. At the age of eight, both he and his brother were taken away by child protective services. Allen spent ten months in foster care before his father, US Army Sgt. 1st Class Richard Allen Jr., won full custody of him and his brother in 2004. As a senior in 2012, he was the Virginia

Gatorade Football Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' football, boys' a ...

. During his career, he had 308 tackles and 44 sacks. Allen was a five-star recruit and was ranked amongst the top of his class. He committed to play

for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

College career

Allen played in 13 games as a true freshman at Alabama in 2013 and had 16 tackles. As a sophomore in 2014, he played in all 14 games and made 12 starts. He was named first-team All- SEC after recording 33 tackles and 5.5 sacks. As a junior in 2015, Allen started all 14 games for the Crimson Tide, who won the

over the

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

by a score of 45–40. Allen went on to win the

Bronko Nagurski Trophy The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been awarded annually since 1993 to the collegiate American football defensive player adjudged by the membership of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be the best in the National Collegiate Athl ...

Chuck Bednarik Award The Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive player in college football as judged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States. The award is named for Chuck Bednarik, a former college and professional Ameri ...

, and

Lombardi Award The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lomba ...

for his performance in the 2016 season.

College statistics

Professional career

Coming out of Alabama, Allen was projected to be a top five pick by some NFL draft experts. His stock began to decline after teams became concerned when he was diagnosed with

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

in one of his shoulders and had surgery on both, two weeks before the combine. He was ranked as the top defensive tackle by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'',

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

, and NFLDraftScout.com.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

ranked him the second best defensive lineman behind

Myles Garrett Myles Lorenz Garrett (born December 29, 1995) is an American football defensive end for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas A&M, where he received unanimous All-American honors in 2016, ...

. Even with the arthritis diagnosis, Allen was projected to be a first-round pick by analysts and scouts. Derek Carr (36632914063)

The

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

selected Allen in the first round, 17th overall, of the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract, worth $11.59 million, on May 11, 2017. Allen recorded his first career sack in a Week 3 game against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

. In Week 6, he suffered a

Lisfranc injury A Lisfranc injury, also known as Lisfranc fracture, is an injury of the foot in which one or more of the metatarsal bones are displaced from the tarsus. The injury is named after Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin, a French surgeon and gynecolog ...

against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...

. He later underwent surgery and was placed on injured reserve on October 19, 2017. Allen returned for the 2018 season and started all 16 games, recording eight sacks, 61 total tackles, and 15 quarterback hits. The team exercised the fifth-year option on his contract on April 27, 2020. After playing the defensive end position for the first three seasons of his career, Allen switched over to defensive tackle after the team's new defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio implemented a 4-3 defensive scheme. On July 27, 2021, Allen signed a four-year contract extension worth $72 million. On December 13, 2021, he was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list, but placed back on the active roster five days later. After recording a sack in the Week 15 game against 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 play ...

, he set a new career high of 8.5 sacks in a single-season. Allen punched teammate

Daron Payne Daron Payne ( ; born May 27, 1997) is an American football defensive tackle for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, where he won the 2018 College Football Playoff National Cha ...

on the sideline during a blowout

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, ...

loss to the Cowboys in Week 16. He was voted to the

2022 Pro Bowl The 2022 Pro Bowl was the National Football League all-star game for the 2021 NFL season. It was played at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, on February 6, 2022. ESPN, ABC and Disney XD had the national television rights. Voting for the ga ...

, his first, following the season. In Week 1 of the 2022 season, he recorded three tackles and a sack. Allen recorded his first career interception on Justin Fields in the Week 6 win over the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

NFL career statistics

Personal life

Allen married his wife, Hannah, in July 2018. Due to his own personal experience with the foster care system, Allen chose to work with Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a homeless shelter that focuses on helping young people in the Washington, D.C. area find safe homes.

References

External links

*
Washington Commanders bio

Alabama Crimson Tide bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Jonathan 1995 births Living people African-American players of American football Alabama Crimson Tide football players All-American college football players American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles People from Ashburn, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia Sportspeople from Anniston, Alabama Sportspeople from the Washington metropolitan area Washington Commanders players Washington Football Team players Washington Redskins players 21st-century African-American sportspeople National Conference Pro Bowl players