Once a projected starter, Indianapolis Colts rookie linebacker CJ Allen was limited solely to the sidelines for what many thought would be his pro debut during last weekend’s blowout home loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
While Allen dressed and wasn’t listed as a healthy inactive pregame, he didn’t play a single snap for the Colts in Week 1—and may as well have been in street clothes.
Not on defense.
Not on special teams.
For a Colts defense whose linebackers clearly struggled on Sunday, Allen didn’t see
the field.
This was a rookie that at one point, the Colts coaching staff may have initially expected to don the green dot, wearing the sole helmet transmitter for relaying the defensive play-calling to his teammates with him on the field.
Instead, Allen didn’t play.
Now, it’s way-too-early to write Allen off yet. He was largely limited throughout training camp with a calf and hamstring strain respectively. He fell behind and as a rookie, wasn’t able to catch up. Even though he was the projected starter ahead of Week 3 of preseason, he didn’t play like he belonged there quite yet.
After an underwhelming final preseason performance, he was rightfully relegated back to the 2nd-team defense.
If you ask his linebackers coach James Bettcher, there’s no real cause for concern yet. Allen is simply catching up for lost time, doing all of the right things off the field, and gradually improving.
Consequently, his time will eventually come:
“He’s getting better every day,” said Bettcher via 1075 The Fan’s Kevin Bowen. “Continues to get reps in practice. His preparation’s been awesome. Comes in early, stays late. There’s not anything that CJ’s not doing from a preparation standpoint. It’s just time on the grass for him.”
“I think we all understand how different the NFL game is to the college game. At the second level, at the linebacker position, things happen fast, and coverages change. Fronts change. Run fits change. And just the opportunity to get the reps doing that, he’s getting better every day, and his time will come. When it does, he’s going to go out there, and he’s going to play well.“
Sometimes, it takes a young player some time to get their first footing. Allen is only 21-years-old, and left after his junior season at the University of Georgia. It’s possible that after missing a large portion of training camp, he just needs a little more time to develop, adjust, and could still play a meaningful role at linebacker later this season.
Nothing’s guaranteed though either. We’ve seen other Colts’ past second round picks, particularly at defensive end such as Kemoko Turay and Ben Banogu that it never clicked for here, and the jury is still out on 2025 2nd rounder Jaylahn Tuimoloau, who hasn’t consistently shown enough flashes on the field yet in over a season.
There’s still realistic hope that Allen can be a core starting linebacker for the Colts for years to come, but at the same time, expectations needs to be clearly tempered as it relates to his rookie campaign—as he’s not ready yet.
