Jon Allen is back!
The Commanders announced Saturday that they have activated Allen off injured reserve, and he will be active for Sunday night’s win-and-in game against the Falcons.
To make room on the 53-man roster, the Commanders released DT Phidarian Mathis, the team’s second-round pick in 2022.
Allen tore his left pectoral muscle in Week 6 against Baltimore and was thought to be lost for the season, but his surgery – which happened right after his last weekly appearance with the Junkies – showed his injury was not as bad as initially thought, and the team opened his 21-day practice window on Dec. 18 before activating him Saturday.
"I'm excited," defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. said Thursday in his weekly presser. "He gives us just another veteran player, high-pedigree player that can go in and give those quality snaps inside, that can get after the quarterback, push the pocket, be disruptive."
The two-time Pro Bowler had two sacks in six games before the injury, and will now rotate back in with Daron Payne and Johnny Newton in the middle.
That won’t be the case with Mathis, who now becomes the 23rd of 33 Ron Rivera-era draft picks (2020-23) to be jettisoned before the end of the first year post-Rivera. He had appeared in1 2 games this year, making 17 tackles (two for loss), and he had 25 tackles, one pass defensed, and one fumble recovery in 23 games over three seasons.
In two other moves affecting Sunday’s game, the Commanders elevated CB Kevon Seymour and WR Brycen Tremayne from the practice squad. The team will be without Dyami Brown and Marshon Lattimore due to injury, so these two moves bolster a thinned out secondary and WR corps.