The Eagles’ wide receiver corps has some good speed, and now they’ve added a legitimate track star to the group.
The team announced Friday that they have signed Devon Allen, a two-time U.S. Olympian in the 110-meter hurdles, to a deal to play wide receiver.
Allen, 27, played football for the University of Oregon from 2013-16, his best season coming in 2014 when he caught 41 passes for 684 yards and seven touchdowns as a redshirt sophomore. However, he was hurt on the opening kickoff of that year’s Rose Bowl game and was never the same, catching just nine balls in 2015 and playing in just three games before getting hurt again in 2016.
He did recently work out at Oregon’s Pro Day, however, impressing by running an unofficial 4.35 in the 40-yard dash, and a visit to the NovaCare Complex Thursday led to a deal.
"It's now or never because I don't want to get too old," Allen said at last week’s pro day. “I don’t want to turn 30, and then try and get into the NFL. I know the skill gap is still there from college to the NFL, but I think when I did play college and when I did play at a pretty good level, I would consider myself talented enough to play in the NFL."
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Allen’s football experience is limited and long ago, but he is a three-time U.S. champion in the 110-meter hurdles and has two Top 5 finishes in the Olympics, placing fifth in Rio in 2016 and fourth in Tokyo last year.
Per Oregon Live, Allen plans to compete at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in June and the World Athletics Championships in July – both of which are in Eugene, Oregon – and then report to training camp.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN