He’s been around the block a time or two in the NFL, having spent time with four different teams, but he’s never had a coach like Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
Early into his first stint with the Steelers, veteran quarterback Kyle Allen is off to a fast start, showcasing his talents during training camp as the QB2 behind Justin Fields with Russell Wilson on the shelf.
Taking advantage of the reps, Allen is opening some eyes in training camp. During an appearance with Steelers.com’s Missi Matthews and radio color analyst Craig Wolfley on Training Camp Wrap-Up Sunday following Day 4 of practice, Allen said he’s hyper-focused under Tomlin and loving every second in Pittsburgh.
“I think really it’s a lot of…you pick out certain coaches that you really enjoy playing [for]. There’s certain players I enjoy playing with. I’ve been around a lot of great quarterbacks. I was around Cam Newton my first couple years, around Alex Smith and Washington, Josh Allen last year, obviously Russ and Justin here. And then a lot of great coaches along the way too,” Allen said when asked what he’s taken from his stops and what he’s learning under Tomlin, according to video via Steelers.com. “So you pick and choose little things and, and you just kind of take what works with you and then you come here and get around a guy like Mike T, who’s been doing it longer than I think anybody in the league right now. And just how intentional he is and how transparent he is and how much he wants to help you grow as a man too.
“I just think it’s been awesome being here, and I’ve been hyper-focused. It’s been really awesome for me to be here. I’m loving it.”
It was an underrated move signing Allen as a free agent on March 25, the Steelers solidifying the depth chart at the quarterback position.
In his career, Allen has completed 441-of-704 passes for 4,734 yards and 26 touchdowns to 21 interceptions. He’s appeared in 30 career games with 19 starts, recording 12 starts in 2019 in Carolina while backing up Cam Newton that season. Allen is 7-12 overall as a starter.
He last completed a pass in Week 12 of the 2022 season as a member of the Houston Texans before being benched for Davis Mills.
Early in training camp, he’s getting an elevated opportunity in Arthur Smith’s offense with Wilson dealing with a calf injury and Fields seeing the starters reps. So far, so good for Allen, who has turned some heads and earned some praise from Tomlin already.Â
While he is seeing a heavily workload, the great thing about playing under Tomlin is that Allen knows where he stands in the QB situation. He’s not going to beat out Wilson or Fields for QB1 or QB2 if both are healthy. He’s in Pittsburgh as experienced depth, a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency type quarterback.
But that doesn’t mean he can’t grow and learn and take the next step as a professional.
So far, he’s doing just that under Tomlin, whose transparency and leadership are showing themselves early to Allen.
He’s comfortable where he is and relishing learning under Tomlin as the latest player to speak highly of the future Hall of Fame head coach.
