WESTFIELD – CJ Allen was excited to get onto the field for his first NFL training camp. Perhaps too excited.
Thursday of last week, the rookie second-round pick – and the Colts' top selection from April's draft – was getting in his own solo conditioning work, as he had for so much of the past six weeks after Indianapolis broke from mandatory mini-camp June 11. Toward the end of his workout, he felt a slight twinge in his calf, but rather than calling it a day and heading to get treatment from the team training staff, the former All-American from Georgia got back up for another rep.
That overeagerness, he told reporters Friday, is likely what landed Allen on the physically unable to perform list to kickoff his first NFL training camp on Wednesday. Lucky for him, though, the team's presumed MIKE linebacker – in essence, the quarterback of the defense – was cleared to return to the field Friday morning and made his way straight into the first-team defense reps against Daniel Jones' offense.
"It definitely felt good walking out with my cleats on and being able to walk out on the blue carpet with my teammates, the linebackers. That was great," Allen told reporters after his first training camp practice Friday. "Getting out there with the team, running around, it just felt great to get back to doing football.
"Here, it's just about the little things, like, 'Are you in the right gap? Or are you on step off your gap?' Because these linemen in the league are so fast, so one step will ruin your whole play."
#allen #training #team
Thursday of last week, the rookie second-round pick – and the Colts' top selection from April's draft – was getting in his own solo conditioning work, as he had for so much of the past six weeks after Indianapolis broke from mandatory mini-camp June 11. Toward the end of his workout, he felt a slight twinge in his calf, but rather than calling it a day and heading to get treatment from the team training staff, the former All-American from Georgia got back up for another rep.
That overeagerness, he told reporters Friday, is likely what landed Allen on the physically unable to perform list to kickoff his first NFL training camp on Wednesday. Lucky for him, though, the team's presumed MIKE linebacker – in essence, the quarterback of the defense – was cleared to return to the field Friday morning and made his way straight into the first-team defense reps against Daniel Jones' offense.
"It definitely felt good walking out with my cleats on and being able to walk out on the blue carpet with my teammates, the linebackers. That was great," Allen told reporters after his first training camp practice Friday. "Getting out there with the team, running around, it just felt great to get back to doing football.
"Here, it's just about the little things, like, 'Are you in the right gap? Or are you on step off your gap?' Because these linemen in the league are so fast, so one step will ruin your whole play."
#allen #training #team
2 days ago
