Jets’ Braelon Allen placed on IR with knee injury; Khalil Herbert signed to help replace him

By Canadian Press on October 2, 2025.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets running back Braelon Allen was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a knee injury that will sideline him several weeks.

Coach Aaron Glenn said Wednesday that Allen was seeking a second medical opinion before the team decided how to proceed. Placing Allen on IR with what Glenn called a “pretty serious” knee injury means the second-year running back will be sidelined at least four weeks.

The Jets signed veteran running back Khalil Herbert to take Allen’s spot on the roster.

Allen was injured early in the second quarter last Monday night in New York’s 27-21 loss at Miami while returning a kickoff. The 2024 fourth-round pick out of Wisconsin went down and then struggled to put weight on his left leg as he walked to the locker room.

He was quickly ruled out by the team for the rest of the game.

The 21-year-old Allen rushed for 334 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie and caught 19 passes for 148 yards and a score. This season, he has 76 yards and a TD on 18 carries, along with two catches for 17 yards.

With Allen sidelined, fellow second-year running back Isaiah Davis will see increased snaps out of the backfield behind starter Breece Hall.

“Isaiah’s got to bump up, but losing a guy like Braelon, that’s tough because you can watch it and he was starting to, you feel like he’s hitting his stride, he’s making some good reads, he’s running hard, he’s running physical, and then he goes down,” offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said Thursday. “So, that is a shot (to the offense). That hurts a bit, but that’s why, again, we’ve got a guy like Isaiah to bump up into the (No. 2) and we’ll just go from there.

“Braelon will get back as soon as he can, but yeah, he’ll be missed.”

Davis has rushed five times for 27 yards and caught three passes for 24 yards while also averaging 29.4 yards on 11 kickoff returns.

New York also has Kene Nwangwu, the team’s primary kick returner when healthy, and undrafted rookie Lawrance Toafili on the practice squad as depth. The addition of Herbert gives the Jets some more flexibility in the backfield and perhaps also on special teams.

Herbert spent his first three-plus NFL seasons with Chicago after being a sixth-round draft pick out of Virginia Tech in 2021 and was teammates on the Bears with current Jets quarterback Justin Fields. He was traded to Cincinnati during the 2024 season. Herbert spent time with Indianapolis and Seattle this season, but was cut by the Seahawks on Wednesday. He hasn’t yet played in a regular-season game this season.

The 27-year-old Herbert has rushed for 1,905 yards and nine touchdowns and caught 53 passes for 312 yards and two scores in his career. He also has returned kickoffs at times, averaging 25.6 yards per return.

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Dennis Waszak Jr., The Associated Press