Jets’ Braelon Allen Shows If You’re Good Enough, You’re Old Enough

Heading into the 2024 NFL season, the Jets own a unique distinction: The team boasts the oldest player in the league — QB Aaron Rodgers, 40 — and the youngest — rookie RB Braelon Allen, 20.

Allen, a fourth-round selection (No. 134 overall) in April’s NFL Draft, is a bruising runner and promising pass catcher out of Wisconsin. He had his first training camp encounter with the team’s beat reporters over the weekend and quickly, and humorously, addressed the age “issue.”

“He [Rodgers] was definitely a little tripped out about it at first when I first met him,” Allen said. “But from what I had heard, he had seen some Wisconsin games in my freshman year, so he knew that I was playing at 17 or whatever. So that was really the first thing that he had said to me.

“But he was like, ‘First guy I’ve ever played with that could literally be my kid.’ So that, that was pretty funny.”

Allen, who played with center Joe Tippmann in Madison, has the size (6-1, 235), speed and versatility to provide the Green & White with a reliable backup to budding star Breece Hall. Along with Hall and Allen, another rookie — Isaiah Davis — is expected to provide punch in the backfield that also includes Israel Abanikanda.

“The expectation for me is to be that bruiser and run with more power and low pads and just impose my will on people,” Allen said. “As I’ve grown over the years, that’s become more, more of the emphasis.”