When Brian Allen got his first chance to start at center in 2019, he looked like a below-average player. He was overpowered by stronger interior linemen, getting pushed back into the quarterback far too often.
A knee injury sidelined him for the second half of 2019 and he essentially took last year to get back to full strength, returning to a starting role this season as a completely different player. He’s the Rams’ third-highest graded player on offense, according to Pro Football Focus, with an overall grade of 77.7.
In three games against the likes of Akiem Hicks, DeForest Buckner and Vita Vea, he’s only allowed two pressures and one sack. Matthew Stafford has been impressed by Allen’s play thus far, raving about the young center for the job he’s done in the middle of the Rams’ offensive line.
“He’s been great. He thinks like me, which is great. He thinks like the quarterback, and he sees things the way I see them,” Stafford said Wednesday. “He’s making protection calls as I’m thinking them and saying them. We kind of work together. We talk through things at the line of scrimmage. I think that’s the way it should be. Just have a conversation up there about what we want to do, how do we want to try to accomplish the goal of the play and go from there.”
Allen more than held his own against Vea, who is arguably the best nose tackle in football. Take a look at this play where he plants Vea on his back, which isn’t something you see happen to the Bucs defender very often.
I’m so desperate to share this clip of Brian Allen pancaking Vita Vea in pass pro that I went full boomer and literally recorded it on my phone.
I’ve heard many OL gurus say: “pass pro doesn’t have to be passive”. I get it. pic.twitter.com/eRsGFNXQLM
— Sosa Kremenjas (@QBsMVP) September 28, 2021
He’s shown good mobility, too, getting out of his stance and “finding work,” as the Rams put it, on screen passes or outside runs. Here’s another clip of a great block he makes on Devin White to open a lane for Sony Michel. Things got a little chippy at the end of the play, but it was a great effort from Allen.
Hell of a rep from 55 C Brian Allen on this screen pic.twitter.com/6L4yZPE6iT
— Josh Cohen (@JCohen_NFL) September 29, 2021
The Rams didn’t know Allen would be their starting center until the middle of training camp, which makes his level of play so far all the more impressive. He’s been a pleasant surprise for Los Angeles and is a big reason Stafford has only been sacked three times in three games.
As a pending free agent in 2022, he’s on his way to earning an extension with the Rams.