The Philadelphia Eagles have players making history in other sports. After signing track star Devon Allen as an undrafted free agent to play wide receiver in April, the Eagles certainly got a good idea of what they have at the NYC Grand Prix.
On Sunday, Allen ran the 110-meter hurdles in a blistering 12.84 seconds. It's the third-fastest time ever posted at the Grand Prix, and he upset favorite Grant Holloway in the process.
THE THIRD FASTEST TIME EVER! @DevonAllen13 of the @Eagles wins the men's 110m hurdles! @SNFonNBC
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) June 12, 2022
📺: @nbc and @peacockTV
💻 https://t.co/DBJg3Xp3aA pic.twitter.com/2RXud8cqR2
You've got to give Allen credit. He even has the mean mug into the camera down.
Why did the Eagles sign Devon Allen?
NFL scouts are always looking for out-of-the-box options, and the Eagles knew they needed to get Jalen Hurts some help at wide receiver. Allen, a four-star recruit out of high school, was a wide receiver for Oregon from 2014 to 2016. A two-sport athlete, he put up good-not-great numbers in 2014 before hardly producing at all in 2015 or 2016.
Allen, of course, kept up his track career. He had planned on pushing for the NFL after the 2018 Olympics, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed his workouts. Allen worked out at Oregon's Pro Day, where the Eagles saw him run a 4.35 40-yard dash (unofficial). That speed was undoubtedly a big factor in them picking him up.
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Will Devon Allen make the Eagles roster?
Allen is still a longshot to be on the Eagles roster in September. It's hard to gauge a player who hasn't played competitively since 2016. However, he'll have opportunities to turn heads.
The Eagles traded for A.J. Brown this year to complement DeVonta Smith, so the top two receiver spots are shored up. After that, however, Allen be wrestling with the likes of Zach Pascal and Deon Cain, so he has an outside shot.
On a recent appearance on NBC Sports Philadelphia’s TakeOff podcast, Allen challenged any Eagles teammate to race him for $10,000.
Some of the guys have joked about racing me. I’m okay with that, but being a pro track athlete, I don’t race for free, so I said $10,000 a race – and so far no one’s taken me up on that!
“My job is to be the fast guy; I’m one of the fastest men in the world, so it’s my job to show that on the field, and that’s something I’m hoping to do,” Allen said. “For sure I’m the fastest on the team, but I think we have the fastest wide receiver corps in the NFL – and one of the best wide receiver rooms, too.”
Who holds the 110-meter hurdle world record?
12.80 seconds is the world record for the 110-meter hurdle, set by United States runner Aries Merritt in 2012. One of the runners he beat -- Holloway -- is second place at 12.81.