It’s time for the Dallas Cowboys to make another deal with the New York Jets.
Or at least that’s the opinion of Yahoo Sports analyst Nate Tice, who took to X: “(Cowboys please trade for Braelon Allen).”
Tice posted this on social media on Sunday, September 20. The Cowboys beat the Washington Commanders 37-20; that’s good. What wasn’t good was the running game America’s Team trotted out.
They finished the contest with a team total of 21 carries for 66 rushing yards, and they didn’t score a rushing touchdown. The team averaged a paltry 3.1 yards per clip.
The Allen Story
Allen, 22, entered the league as the No. 134 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft. He is in his third season in the NFL.
After this season, Allen only has one year remaining on his $4.5 million rookie contract. Do the Jets plan on extending him? If so he’s probably worth keeping around. However, if the answer to that question is no, then entertaining a potential trade makes all of the sense in the world.
This past offseason, the Jets realized they weren’t going to extend pass rusher Jermaine Johnson’s contract. 2026 was set to be the final year of his rookie contract. Since the Jets weren’t going to keep him long-term, it behooved them to find a deal to get him out of town, and they found it.
Across his two and a half seasons in the league, Allen has appeared in 23 games and has made two starts. With those opportunities, he has toted the rock 125 times for 457 rushing yards, and he has scored four rushing touchdowns. Through the air, Allen has been targeted 32 times, catching 22 balls for 173 receiving yards, and he has scored one receiving touchdown.
With all due respect, that production is just fine, certainly not spectacular. Allen has received headlines for his impressive physique. This offseason, he accidentally gained extra muscle mass surging past 250 pounds, which raised eyebrows.
If the Jets can get at least what they invested in Allen (a fourth round pick), it might be a deal worth exploring for the green and white.
Why the Jets May Actually Be Cool With the Trade
Most assumed Allen would be the RB2 to Breece Hall in 2026. However, several beat reporters explained during the summer why that might be a bad assumption.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic actually called Isaiah Davis the “early favorite” to win the RB2 gig heading into training camp over Allen.
Michael Nania of Jets X-Factor predicted that Davis would leapfrog Allen on the depth chart during training camp.
“The player that nobody talks about, who this coaching staff is very high on, is Isaiah Davis. I mean, when he got in there last year, Isaiah Davis did some good things. I think everyone is assuming that Braelon Allen is gonna win the No. 2 running back job because he’s got the biggest biceps and he looks like Hercules, but that’s not exactly the case,” ESPN’s Rich Cimini said on the “Jets Collective” podcast in July.
None of that came to fruition because the competition was canceled after Davis hurt his knee at the beginning of training camp in early August. Now Davis is healthy. Could the Jets flip Allen and then replace him in the rotation with Davis? It sounds like that was the plan in the offseason anyway.
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