Devon Allen was back to the races this weekend.
Allen, a two-time Olympian who made the Philadelphia Eagles' practice squad last year after returning to football for the first time since playing collegiately in 2016, placed second in the 110-meter hurdles at the USATF New York City Grand Prix on Saturday with a time of 13.04 seconds.
He crossed the line just behind fellow American Daniel Roberts (13.01 seconds), although his result was still good enough to put him in a tie for the fourth-fastest time in the world thus far this year.
Allen signed a reserve/future contract with Philadelphia following the conclusion of the 2022 NFL season, and he spoke to the NBC broadcast following his event about finding time for both sports.
"It's going well," Allen said. "Balancing both is difficult, but I'm having a lot of fun as long as I can stay healthy. Get to compete against these guys in high-quality competition. 13.01 and 13.04 is nothing to scoff at. So, we're ready to go."
Allen's next race will take place at the USATF Outdoor Championships, scheduled for July 6-9 at the University of Oregon -- the 28-year-old's alma mater.
Should he qualify for the U.S. team with a top-three placement there, Allen would then be slated to race at the World Athletics Championships, where he was disqualified for a false start in the 110-meter hurdles final in 2022.
Only there's an extra hurdle in the way of Allen's hopeful redemption.
The World Athletics Championships take place from Aug. 18-27, during the heart of Eagles training camp. That's crunch time for a player who has never taken a regular-season snap and has set his sights on making Philly's practice squad or better.
"Yeah, I still don't have a plan of what I'm gonna do with Worlds being, you know, during training camp," Allen told KPIC 4 in an interview last week preceding Saturday's Grand Prix. "Obviously, it'd be nice to compete at Worlds and also it would be nice to be at training camp so I can make the 53-man roster. So, obviously it's gonna be a little bit of a decision, but I'm not going to worry about that, like I said, until I make the world championship team. USA is a competitive meet. Just got to focus on doing that first."
The predicament Allen might find himself in with another top-tier performance a couple weeks from now is an unenviable one. His decision could ultimately play a factor in what the Eagles decide to do with him.
