PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Not everyone earns the honors of being an All-Pro football player. While those who do are uplifted for their achievements, the players who don’t sometimes can be just as important, and keep the vibes around NFL teams upbeat.
In 2017, the Philadelphia Eagles went on a miracle run to win Super Bowl 52 and sit atop the NFL for the first time. Pro Bowlers like Nick Foles, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Zach Ertz were critical to the team during that run, but so was backup defensive lineman Beau Allen.
Allen, a seventh-round pick for the Eagles in the 2014 NFL Draft, wasn’t just known for his solid play on the field. Allen’s colorful personality and innate ability to set the mood in the Eagles locker room helped him cement his role on the team.
Despite being a late-round draft pick, the Minnesotan took his midwestern attitude to Philadelphia and put together a nice career just doing what he loves and having fun doing it.
“I can kind of look at my career … and as a seventh-round pick every day, you’re just trying to not get cut. Maybe it might have never occurred to me during my career because I think it’s kind of a douchey thing to say, but I think I had a pretty good career,” Allen said.
A good career is an understatement for a seventh-round pick who came into the league with no promised spot, but found one on a championship team during his fourth year in the league.
Thinking back to that championship run, Allen can’t help but laugh as he recalls being worried about the defense’s ability to stop Tom Brady’s Patriots.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever said this publicly, but the whole time I was sitting there thinking like, ‘Oh my god, we’re going to [expletive] lose this game because our defense can’t get a stop and we are going to be the most hated defense in the history of Philadelphia football,’” Allen said. “Thank God for Brandon Graham, because he got one stop when it mattered the most, and sometimes that’s all you need.”
Even though 2017 may be one of the most memorable of his career, Allen has numerous stories about his time in the NFL, including one about the surprise he felt during a season with one of the most controversial quarterbacks at the time: Tim Tebow.
“It was the fastest 180 I’ve ever seen. Celek was like, ‘What the [expletive]? This is the worst football I’ve ever seen. He can’t even throw a ball. Like what are we doing?’ It was so so funny,” he said.
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