When Devon Allen announced his intention to return to football, it signaled that a new challenger was arriving for the title of NFL’s fastest player. But if you ask the former national champion hurdler, the debate is not a close one.
Allen, who focused solely on track and field after his college career ended in 2016 and signed with the Eagles in ’22, said there’s no question he’s the fastest NFL player in a recent interview with TMZ, singling out Seattle’s DK Metcalf and Miami’s Tyreek Hill as potential competitors.
Metcalf and Hill each tried their hands at track and field in recent years, garnering respect from Allen.
“I definitely am [the fastest],” Allen said. “I’m not gonna roast those guys, because what they did was impressive. I raced Tyreek Hill when I was in high school. We raced, and he smoked me when we were in high school. And DK Metcalf ran a 10.3 a couple years ago [and] is super impressive for a guy that’s 6’4”, 6’3”, 225 [pounds], but I think especially at the top level, top five, top 10 in the world, there’s a big gap in terms of just performance.”
Allen won the NCAA 110-meter hurdles championship in 2014, and he recently ran the fourth-fastest time of ’23 in that event. While working his way back to football, he also discussed the adjustment of re-familiarizing himself with the sport in which he once starred. As a freshman at Oregon in ’14, he snagged 41 catches for 684 yards and seven touchdowns.
“The first whirlwind for me was training camp, getting thrown into the fire, and realizing this isn’t college anymore,” Allen said. “I played at the University of Oregon, which is high-level ball, but the NFL takes it to another level.”
