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Oft-Injured Former Patriot Retires From NFL

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In 2020, when the New England Patriots saw Tom Brady walk away to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they signed a slew of free agents. Beau Allen was one of them. Allen was supposed to replace run-stuffing defensive tackle Danny Shelton.

Unfortunately, injuries kept Allen from ever playing a game for the Patriots. He was placed on injured reserve in October 2020 and released by the Patriots in March 2021. On Friday, July 1, Allen announced his retirement from professional football via social media.

Allen was inactive due to injuries through the 2020 and 2021 seasons and decided to end his football journey at age 30.

Allen helped the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. Allen made two solo tackles in that game. For his career, the Wisconsin alum played six seasons in the NFL (four with the Eagles and two with the Bucs).

He had 117 tackles and 2.5 sacks playing a total of 90 games with 16 starts over his career.

Other Patriots News: Breakout Season Predicted for Rhamondre Stevenson

During the 2021 season, Rhamondre Stevenson showed flashes of brilliance. It began in preseason when he burst out for 217 yards rushing on just 30 carries with 5 TDs.

He ran into some early season struggles and wound up benched after some shaky play in Week 1 of the regular season against the Miami Dolphins. Still, Stevenson rebounded to put together a solid rookie campaign.

Stevenson had 133 rushes for 606 yards and 5 TDs. The strong points of Stevenson’s rookie season have some predicting he is headed for a breakout year in 2022.

Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Tame Jr. referenced the jump from rookie to sophomore season from former Patriots running backs Laurence Maroney, Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, James White, Sony Michel and Damien Harris.

All but one of the six (Michel was the only exception) saw a jump of at least 100 yards rushing from their rookie seasons to their second campaign in the NFL. The biggest leap came from Ridley who saw his rushing total jump a full 822 yards from 441 yards in 2011 to 1,263 in 2012.

The Patriots would likely be ecstatic to see Stevenson experience that sort of statistical growth, although the only way he figures to get enough carries for that kind of a jump is if Harris is injured. That’s a real possibility considering Harris has missed 8 games to injury over the past two seasons.

Other Patriots News: 49ers Given Mac Jones in 2021 Re-Draft

If the NFL did a do-over of the 2021 NFL Draft, would they still wind up with Mac Jones at No. 15? According to Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus, the San Francisco 49ers would snatch Jones up with the No. 3 pick behind Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson who both stayed in their original positions at No. 1 and 2 to the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets, respectively.

The 49ers selected Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick in real life, but in Monson’s re-draft, Lance fell to the Chicago Bears at No. 11, who didn’t get to Justin Fields before the Denver Broncos selected him at No. 9. Who did the Patriots wind up with in Monson’s re-draft?

Promising Cleveland Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II. That would fill a need on the Patriots’ roster now, but something tells me they’re good with the way things played out.

Jones was second in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting and seemingly moving toward a strong second season. The question is: would Jones have had as good of a rookie season if he were in San Francisco trying to wrestle the starting job away from Jimmy Garoppolo?

We’ll never know the answer to that question.

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Former New England Patriots defensive lineman Beau Allen retired on July 1.