The Los Angeles Rams under Sean McVay have consistently churned out "breakout players", players who come in with little fanfare only to produce well beyond expectations. From Puka Nacua to Kobie Turner to Ernest Jones to Cooper Kupp, they have been able to identify key traits and coach up players to their potential among many of their key players.
This year, that player could be second-year tight end Davis Allen.
Allen wasn't involved much in the offense last season, catching only 12 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. However, as the season went on, Allen began to see the field more and more and began to flash his ability as a playmaker. With what he has shown so far and the direction I believe the Rams' offense is headed, I think Allen is on his way to be a sneaky breakout candidate for the Rams in 2024.
The Rams 2024 offense benefits Davis Allen
Tight ends haven't been a particularly prominent feature in the Rams' offense over the last few seasons. They were first in 11-personnel and dead-last in 12-personnel last season. By the end of the season, the Rams had pretty much scratched any plays from 12-personnel and became exclusively an 11-only team.
Why do I believe this will change? The Rams have dropped plenty of clues over this offseason. The most interesting sign is their moves on the coaching staff. TEs coach Nick Caley is taking over as Passing Game Coordinator. Caley's roots go back to New England, working with TEs and FBs with the Patriots going back to 2017. Each year Caley was in New England, they were among the top teams in using 12, 21, and 22 package looks. The Rams' new hires also indicate this as well.
Their new quarterbacks coach, Dave Ragone, arrived from Atlanta, where he served as offensive coordinator under Arthur Smith. Atlanta led the NFL in 12-personnel looks last season, and was top-five in 21, 22, and 13-personnel usage as well. Nate Scheelhaase, their new offensive assistant coach, came from Iowa State, who was near the top of CFB in 12 and 13-personnel formations. Another recently hired offensive assistant, Jerry Schuplinski, arrived from Las Vegas. With the Raiders, Schuplinski coached tight ends in 2023 and was the Giants' quarterbacks coach in 2019 and 2020.
Not only have they hired multiple coaches familiar with 12-personnel offenses, but they also invested in Colby Parkinson in free agency and have been heavily involved with dynamic tight ends in the last two drafts.
This would be a significant departure from the Rams' offense of 2023, but they've never shied away from shifting their offense from season to season. Much like how the Rams changed their ground game from an outside zone-heavy approach to a gap scheme last year, I believe the Rams are doing something similar this year with their personnel looks. Many of McVay's disciples have made this shift in recent years, from Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota, Zac Taylor in Cincinnati, and Shane Waldron in Seattle/Chicago, and it could lead to a league shift back to heavier looks.
Maybe the reason why the Rams didn't invest heavily into their wide receiver room in the offseason and felt comfortable trading away Ben Skowronek was because of this shift.
Davis Allen's role in 2024
How does this impact Davis Allen? Even with Parkinson signing a pretty solid deal in free agency, Allen will still see plenty of snaps on the field if this shift does occur. He and Parkinson aren't much of an overlap in skill set, and in my opinion, pair well together.
Parkinson is a traditional Y-tight end. He's lining up in-line and handling a lot of blocking duties in pass pro and in the run game. That's his ideal role, and his presence will help them establish a physical ground game.
Allen is more of an "F" tight end. You might have heard of this referred to as a "move TE". In essence, most of his duties will occur lined up out wide or on the move detached from the line of scrimmage and blockers.
For a better look at how this will work, let's look at a play from Atlanta last year, where new Rams' QB coach Dave Ragone was the OC.
Darious Williams closing against Drake London and getting the PBU pic.twitter.com/6p1zFkpJto
— AJ Schulte (@AJSchulteFB) May 26, 2024
The Falcons motion Jonnu Smith across the formation to block, while TE Kyle Pitts goes out away from the line of scrimmage to run a route. Envision Parkinson playing the Smith role here while Allen fills in for Pitts.
They also deployed plenty of traditional 12-personnel looks like these, with both TEs at the line of scrimmage.
At Clemson, Allen split time on the LOS and detached, with the Tigers mainly utilizing him as their seam threat and red zone weapon with some designed YAC touches. The Rams have already begun doing similar with Allen, especially in their late-season games.
The Rams began to involve Davis Allen more and more as the season went on.
— AJ Schulte (@AJSchulteFB) May 26, 2024
If they are as 12/13 personnel-heavy as I think they will be, he could be in line for a solid breakout year pic.twitter.com/uc5emqrXf2
Allen has the upside as a receiver to be the team's long-term TE1, even if he hasn't done much as a blocker. Tight ends nowadays are spending less and less time at the line of scrimmage, which is where the value of someone like Colby Parkinson comes in.
As his chemistry with Matthew Stafford develops and his knowledge of the playbook deepens, Allen's role with the team expands. With Tyler Higbee's unknown timeline working back from injury and long-term questions begin to arise, Davis Allen could be the heir-apparent to the TE1 spot for Los Angeles.
