New York Jets running back Braelon Allen will be sidelined 8-12 weeks as he recovers from an MCL injury the team announced Friday.
Allen is believed to have injured his knee in the 2nd quarter returning a kickoff in his team’s Monday night football game last week. While the 21 year old has yet to decide on surgery or rehab, head coach Aaron Glenn told reporters that the recovery timeline is roughly the same for either route.
“There’s two different ways he can go about it,” Glenn said. “He could rehab this … or he could have surgery and get it cleaned up. But the rehab time will be exactly the same. That will be a decision him and his agent will have to make. I’m not making that decision.”
With Allen sidelined, New York will lean even more on Breece Hall to keep their 3rd ranked rushing attack humming along. Isaiah Davis will likely see an uptick in usage as well, but their 3rd running back is currently a question mark.
Kene Nwangwu is battling a hamstring injury of his own, meaning he could be a game time decision. The team also signed Khalil Herbert off the Seahawks practice squad on Thursday, giving them an insurance policy if Nwangwu isn’t able to suit up.
The club also added former Atlanta Falcon Avery Williams to their practice squad on Friday, as he has returned kicks in the past as well.
With Allen placed on injured reserve, a potential timeline for his return could line up for a Week 13 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. That being said, if the currently winless Jets continue to slide down the standings, then there would be little incentive for the team to rush him back to action, meaning he’s no guarantee to even take the field again this season if his recovery trends towards the 12 week mark.
Up next for the Jets is a home date against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, October 5th. After that, they play host to the Broncos, then have games vs. the Panthers, Bengals and Browns, which would bring them to mid-November. If the club is still winless at that point, they’ll be playing more for the 1st overall draft pick next spring than having any kind of hope of reaching the postseason.
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.