Davis
Allen.
Davis
Allen.
Clemson· 6'6"· 245 lb· 4.84s 40
"He is not the tight end who wins the game with a 60-yard seam; he is the one you call when the field shrinks to 15 yards and the throw has to be caught over somebody's helmet."Pre-draft read
Allen was Clemson's every-down tight end in a pro-style offense, lining up as an in-line Y, in the wing, and detached in the slot on play-action. His defining trait is contested-catch security: a 6-6, 245-pound frame with 10-inch hands, a 38.5-inch vertical, and the body control to high-point the ball over a safety's helmet in the red zone.
The secondary trait is willingness in the run game. He fires off low, latches, and finishes with attitude on down blocks and combos. As a route runner he is a long-strider who builds speed rather than snapping in and out, so separation comes from leverage and box-out framing, not burst. The signature is the goal-line and seam target who simply does not drop the football.
Pro-style play-action offense that uses 12 personnel and demands a true in-line Y
Year 1: TE2 who blocks on early downs, plays core special teams and is the designated red-zone target. Ceiling: high-floor TE1B in a two-tight-end offense, 35-45 catches with double-digit-percentage red-zone target share.
A spread offense that detaches its tight end on every snap and asks him to win man coverage from the slot — Allen has no answer for a nickel corner in space and his blocking value is wasted off the line.
Value scales with how often the offense keeps a tight end attached; in an 11-personnel passing team he becomes a rotational blocker only.
Davis Allen Clemson Highlights
Clemson career reel: red-zone jump balls, seam work off play-action and in-line run blocking.
Davis Allen Highlights
Pre-draft cut-up focused on his catch-point wins and route usage in Clemson's pro-style offense.
Every Davis Allen Reception from the 2024 NFL Season | Rams Rookie Tight End
All of his 2024 receptions with the Rams, showing the attached TE2 role Los Angeles drafted him for.
Allen is the four-year Clemson tight end whose value lives in the parts of the position that never show up in a target share. He arrived as a true freshman contributor in 2019 and never left the field, growing from a blocking specialist into the offense's most trusted third-down and red-zone answer.
The production curve was steady rather than explosive: 5 catches as a freshman, 16 as a sophomore, 28 as a junior, then a senior-year high of 39 receptions for 443 yards and 5 touchdowns. Twelve career touchdowns on 88 receptions tells the honest story — he was the call when the field shrank. His signature snaps were jump-ball wins inside the 15 and stalk-and-seal work on the perimeter. The flags were plain: pedestrian long speed (4.84 in Indianapolis), a route tree that lived on verticals and drags, and yardage depressed by a quarterback room that never stabilized.
Boards saw a floor pick. He tested well enough to avoid the stiff label, showed up at the Senior Bowl, and profiled as a TE2 who could block on early downs and be trusted in the red area immediately. Round five at 175 was exactly where a team should buy that: no projection required, no scheme gymnastics, just a mature player arriving with an NFL body and a job description already written.
- 01
Contested catch
High-points the football over defensive backs with real vertical pop and 10-inch hands, and rarely lets a defender play through his frame at the catch point.
- 02
Red-zone reliability
Twelve touchdowns on 88 career receptions; Clemson's most trusted target inside the 15, where his frame and body control make him a matchup problem.
- 03
In-line willingness
Genuine want-to as a down blocker, firing low off the ball and finishing combos and kick-outs with attitude rather than just getting in the way.
- 04
Hands and ball skills
Catches away from the body, tracks the deep-middle throw cleanly, and consistently comes down with the awkward off-target ball over the middle.
- 05
Maturity and role clarity
Four-year contributor, team leader and All-ACC Academic selection who already understands protections, alignments and how to play a TE2 job.
- 01
Long speed
A 4.84 forty means safeties can carry him vertically; he will not run away from linebackers and the seam shot is a leverage win, not a speed win.
- 02
Route nuance
A long strider who builds speed instead of snapping; his separation comes from framing and box-outs, so he struggles to uncover against tight man coverage.
- 03
Yards after catch
Limited creation once the ball is in his hands; he falls forward rather than making the first defender miss, which caps his production ceiling.
- 04
Sustaining blocks
Latches with effort but can get walked back by heavy edge-setters, and hand placement drifts wide when his initial leverage is beaten.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.84sp50
- Vertical
- 38.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 125inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Clemson | 9 | 5 | 53 | 0 |
| 2020 | Clemson | 12 | 16 | 247 | 4 |
| 2021 | Clemson | 13 | 28 | 208 | 3 |
| 2022 | Clemson | 14 | 39 | 443 | 5 |
| Career | — | 48 | 88 | 951 | 12 |
2020, 2021 and 2022 verified line-by-line on cfbstats.com (player 1103137, Clemson team 147); 2019 taken from StatMuse, which reconciles exactly with the cfbstats seasons against the published career totals (48 G / 88 rec / 951 yds / 12 TD). Clemson's official bio lists 54 career games with 25 starts, a broader roster-participation count that does not match receiving-log games; the receiving totals themselves agree across every source. Starts are not published per season and are left out rather than estimated.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A durable, scheme-literate TE2 who blocks on early downs, plays teams and cashes a handful of red-zone targets a year.
The optimistic version if the contested-catch trait scales into a real target share; Allen shares the jump-ball frame but not Gesicki's twitch.
The downside if the blocking never sticks against NFL edge-setters: a practice-squad-to-roster shuttle who never carves out an offensive role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The Rams got what they drafted. Allen made the roster as a rookie in 2023 and played 15 games behind Tyler Higbee, catching 10 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown while logging heavy special-teams work — the blocking-first TE2 job, filled competently. In 2024 his receiving role shrank to 6 catches for 39 yards across 15 games, largely because Los Angeles reshaped the offense around its receivers and used Allen almost purely as an attached blocker and core teamer. Then 2025 was the step forward: 17 games, 24 receptions, 208 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus three playoff appearances. He entered 2026 on the initial 53-man roster after a quad injury cost him a stretch of training camp, returning to practice in late August.
The honest retrospective is that a fifth-round tight end still with the team that drafted him in year four, contributing on offense and special teams, is a successful pick — but not a transformative one. Allen never became a receiving weapon, and his 2025 uptick reflects opportunity and trust more than a change in what he is. That was always the bargain at 175: no upside bet, no bust risk, a real NFL body and a real NFL job. Teams that spend Day 3 picks this way keep their tight end room functional for a decade. The value is in the floor, and the floor held.