A former Clemson standout, now entering his fourth NFL season, is dealing with an injury that his team is trying to be careful with as he recovers.
Los Angeles Rams tight end Davis Allen is nursing a quad injury, and because it’s a soft tissue injury, it will be “some time” before he returns to practice, according to Rams head coach Sean McVay.
The Rams “don’t want to rush him back” as they have big plans for the 6-foot-6, 253-pounder this year.
“He’s got a little soft tissue, like a quad,” McVay told reporters this week.
“You know how those are. So, we’ll be day-to-day with him, week-to-week. We’ll give him some time. You don’t want to rush him back. He’s played a lot of football, and it’ll give some of these other tight ends an opportunity to get snaps they wouldn’t otherwise. But Davis is going to be a big part of what we do this year.”
Allen was drafted by Los Angeles in the fifth round (175th overall) of the 2023 NFL Draft. In 47 regular season games (11 starts) over his first three seasons, he has recorded 40 receptions for 342 yards and four touchdowns.
The Georgia native appeared in all 20 games for the Rams last season, including the postseason. He started five of the 17 regular-season games and caught 24 passes for 208 yards and three touchdowns, all career-highs.
Allen’s first score of 2025 proved to be the game-winning, 13-yard touchdown reception in the Rams’ 14-9 victory over the Houston Texans in Week 1. He found the end zone again in Week 2, and then again in Week 10. The Week 10 touchdown was a historic one, as his 4-yard touchdown grab marked Matthew Stafford’s 400th career touchdown pass (making Stafford just the ninth player all-time with at least 400 TD passes).
As a rookie in 2023, Allen scored his first NFL touchdown in the Rams’ Week 14 matchup at the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 10, 2023. He recorded the first postseason touchdown of his NFL career when he caught a 13-yard touchdown pass right before halftime of the Rams’ NFC Wild Card Playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Jan. 13, 2025.
Allen played at Clemson from 2019-22, when he recorded 88 receptions, 951 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns over 54 games. He was a third-team All-ACC selection in 2022, when he posted career highs in receptions (39), receiving yards (443), touchdowns (five) and offensive snaps (701) while starting all 14 games.
Allen left Clemson as one of only six tight ends in school history to tally double-digit career touchdown receptions, as his 12 touchdown catches tied John McMakin (12 from 1969-71), Dwayne Allen (12 from 2009-11) and Brandon Ford (12 from 2009-12) for the second-most career touchdown receptions by a tight end in Clemson history.
