Braelon Allen forcing himself into major Jets role as 20-year-old rookie

The recollections and stories about seeing Braelon Allen on a football field for the first time follow a near identical trajectory. There is the initial impression of a youngster with an impressive physique, followed by an emphatic realization. In 2021, the rookie running back was just a 17-year-old who had skipped his senior year of high school to join the Wisconsin Badgers early.Joe Tippmann, the second-year Jets center, was on that Badgers team as well and blocked for Allen for two seasons before the two were reunited as teammates this year. “I remember him showing up, he was 17 years old, he was someone who was supposed to be going into his senior year and then reclassified, nobody knew what that meant,” Tippmann said on Monday.

“Him walking in, we’re like, ‘Alright, whatever, this guy thinks he can just skip his senior year of football,’ and then first practice we step out there and I think he ran over three or four dudes.Immediately, everything switched.

It was like, ‘I really like this guy.’ ” Fast forward three years, and Jets head coach Robert Saleh’s early takeaways sound eerily similar. “I would say once we put the pads on, he separated himself,” Saleh said on Friday.“It was clear that we had to get this dude on the field.

Because when you see him without pads it’s one thing.You saw the smoothness out the backfield in the pass game, you saw the soft hands.

You recognized his knowledge and protections and how smart he is, but once we put the pads on, it was a whole new level of football, so he’s earned it and we’ll continue to build it.” Allen, still just 20 years old and the youngest player in the NFL this year, is quickly forcing his way into a major offensive role despite being a fourth-round pick.The Jets drafted another running back, Isaiah Davis, in the fifth round, and last year added Israel Abanikanda in the fifth round.

But Allen has emerged as the clear No.2 behind Breece Hall. Allen has recorded 96 ...