Fantasy Upside
The departure of Coby Fleener to New Orleans and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski entering his first full season with the Colts is a great combination for Allen’s 2016 fantasy prospects. As early as they could, team brass made it clear they wanted Allen to re-sign in Indianapolis at a time when it was unclear if the Colts preferred Allen or Fleener. TEs under Chudzinski (Greg Olsen 2012, Jordan Cameron 2013) have been fantasy gold too, averaging 74.5-880-6. That would project to TE3 in our 2016 PPR rankings and TE5 in standard.
Fantasy Downside
Allen 2016 value could still be tied to how well the right side of the Colts offensive line plays. It was awful in 2015, requiring Allen to stay in-line and block often. The Colts spent half their draft to address center, right guard, and right tackle, but if it doesn’t improve, it could definitely eat into Allen’s targets.
Allen’s health is a concern too, missing three games each of the past two years and playing at much less than 100 percent in a handful of others. That after he missed 15 games in 2013.
Bottom Line
Given Allen’s incredibly low 15th round ADP in 12-team leagues, he could be one of the steals of 2016 drafts, even with his injury concerns. His ADP takes any injury risk out of the equation. With Allen, you can draft him as your 2nd TE and easily see TE1 returns, as he is a top-12 TE in both our standard and PPR projections.