The pads aren't on and nobody's getting tackled, but Braelon Allen has a football back in his arms — finally.
"Man, a breath of fresh air for sure," the running back said during the Jets' final week of OTAs. "That first day was just kind of a weight taken off my shoulders."
It was a heavy load carrying the memory of his final two snaps of 2025: a fumble on the goal line and the kickoff return where he sprained his MCL in a 27-21 Week 4 loss to the Dolphins in Miami.
"It definitely left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth, for sure, this whole offseason," Allen said. "Never want to leave the field those two ways again."
But he attacked the rehab process with "hunger and a whole lot of motivation." Now, the running back retaking the field looks more like a tank. At 250 pounds, Allen said he's the biggest, strongest and fastest he's ever been.
"I played 238-240 [pounds] last year," Allen said. "The most recent [DEXA scan] I did was by far my best. The most lean muscle mass I've ever had, the lowest percentage of body fat, perfect symmetry in both my legs and my arms; everything looked exactly how we wanted it to."
Getting to 250 pounds wasn't necessarily intentional — Allen said it was accidental, but it's just how he trains.
"This is the same type of routine that gained all my weight going from high school to college," Allen said. "Just the hypertrophy training and just adding muscle mass and my body just responds to that type of training in a way that I'm just going to keep growing and growing and growing."
Allen never left Florham Park during the offseason to work with Jets team trainers. In February, he was medically cleared and by the middle of March, he felt more like himself again.
"Ever since then everything's been uphill and I feel incredible," Allen said.