Jonathan Allen’s value lies in a statistic you never see

On Friday, the Washington manager announced that he would release veteran defensive lineman Jonathan Allen after eight seasons. The team saves $16.3 million in salary cap space on releases. Allen had been seeking permission to seek trade this offseason, but Allen is now a free agent as there are no suitors with a base salary of $15.5 million remaining on the four-year, $72 million contract extension he signed in in 2021.

Allen, selected for the 17th overall pick in the first round of Alabama's 2017 draft, created the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2022.Defense Coordinator. “Ha!

Despite that clear handicap, Allen has totaled 18 sacks and a total of 114 pressure, earning 77 solo tackles and 75 stops in these two seasons alone. 2023 was just as destructive. Allen was destructive with six bags, a total of 49 pressure, 39 solo tackles and 37 stops.

Sadly, when Dan Quinn became the commander's head coach before the 2024 season, Allen couldn't benefit from Quinn's defensive creativity, particularly along the front line. Allen was limited to 440 snaps in 2024. This is because he was dealing with the torn left thoracic muscle that he played against the Baltimore Ravens in week 6. Originally, the injury was thought to be the end of the season, but Allen returned to the field against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17.

“I looked at the surgeon and saw the process go on… he didn't look like someone who had this surgery.” Quinn said in mid-December. “Usually, it's much less on one side. He certainly built another.”

In 2024, Allen totaled three sacks, 26 pressures total, 21 solo tackles and 18 stops. Extrapolating it over the full season made it visible that Allen would play at multiple gaps with his previous height. Last season, with each focus on pro football, Allen lined up as nose tackles at 6% of the snaps, and as defensive tackles at 79% of the snaps and 14% of the time.

But there's one metric we rarely talk about when it comes to Allen's value for his next NFL team. How many times do defensive linemen do double teams in the season? If the lineman is the main focus of a special offensive lineman when he is there, its value is clear. Especially if that lineman can knives through these double teams, of course, as these doubles give the other rushes and destroyers the ability to win a one-on-one matchup when the group's alpha assumes the main responsibility.

And this was Commander Reed Dawg when Allen was really healthy. According to an independent chart, in these 440 snaps, Allen has been double-teamed 121 times in some form or fashion. This is a 27.5% double team rating, and when one guy doubles one or more of four plays, that's a really big deal for everyone else.

And not only did Allen unconsciously absorb all those doubles, so that others could eat. He also sliced ​​and diced when he gave special attention. His pressure 17 was opposed to double teams, and Allen's explosiveness to all of them was clear and impressive, whether he was plunging through them or running around.

It's even more impressive that six of these pressures came after Allen returned from an injury that was supposed to have given up on the entire season. The Eagles' incredible offensive line doubled Allen on 12 of their 60 plays in the aforementioned NFC Championship Game, and it was abundantly clear that the Eagles' own interior line was especially affected by the injury issue.

Whether the team was really doubleping Allen throughout the rep, or if they were trying to temporarily handle certain linemen and another chipping before heading to second level, or trying to deal with Allen by linemen and blocking back, it was very clear that all commanders saw Allen as a very big problem regardless of the alignment.

The commander must find another force multiplier in that respect. Daron Payne is the obvious guy with 190 double-team in 821 plays last season, and perhaps sophomore Johnny Newton can take on Allen's place over time. In his rookie season, Newton faced double-teamed with 108 of 608 plays.

But it doesn't replace the man who forces protection to his personal gravity at the level that Jonathan Allen does. So despite his recent history of injury and his age (he turned 30 on January 16th), Allen is highly praised not only for the way he destroys the backfield himself, but also for the extent to which he can help everyone around him increase his numbers and effectiveness.

After all, soccer is the ultimate team sport. And when it comes to forced double teaming and then expunging it, there are few teammates better than Jonathan Allen.