Following soon behind the Kansas City Chiefs’ pick of Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson, the front office kept the offense in mind and selected a wide receiver.
Allen was ranked the 257th prospect and the 38th-ranked receiver by Arrowhead Pride’s consensus rankings.
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked Allen 27th among the receivers in this class, grading him as a fifth-to-sixth-round
prospect in his draft guide, “The Beast.”
The 23-year-old receiver measured in at 5 feet 11 inches tall and 183 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine and posted the following numbers:
- 40-yard dash: 4.49 seconds
- 10-yard split: 1.56 seconds
- Vertical leap: 36 inches
- Broad jump: 11 feet
Before his lone season with the Bearcats in 2025, Allen made his mark over two seasons at Louisiana Tech, transferring to Texas A&M in 2024 for a low-output, injury-shortened season that ended with arm surgery.
He enrolled at the University of Cincinnati before the 2025 season and went on to have a breakout campaign, finishing with 13 touchdown catches, the most in the Big 12 last season, and earned Second Team All-Big 12 honors.
With the Bearcats, Allen lined up nearly exclusively in the slot (92% of pass snaps) and was an efficient playmaker, considering how many times he scored while only catching 49 passes. At previous stops, he was nowhere near as predominantly aligned in the slot.
Looking ahead to his fit with the Chiefs, he will enter the realm that last year’s fourth-round pick and wide receiver Jalen Royals is hoping he is in the clear of. He won’t have a clean path to being any higher than fourth or fifth on the depth chart, and history says he would have to go above and beyond to earn playing time as a sixth-round rookie for head coach Andy Reid’s offense.
