The new member of the Immortales enclosure left his mark on the NFL first with the Chiefs and then reached another level with the Vikings
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jared Allen He wore his cowboy hat this weekend in Canton for his induction to the Hall of Fame, the characteristic garment that inspired his celebration of Lazar Terneros after each capture and still serves as an adequate image of his life outside the field.
Raised in a horsepower in northern California, Jared Allen He was bold enough at age eight to tell his father that he planned to become a professional football player.
He fulfilled that vision with a relentless revenge against the offensive Tackles in charge of blocking it and the field marshal NFL.
“When you do what you love, you want Hall of Fame along with Antonio Gates, Eric Allen y Sterling Sharpe. “I always wanted to go out to the countryside and that people knew that I really loved to play this game.”
First leaving his mark with the Kansas City Chiefs and then reaching another level with the Minnesota VikingsAllen was one of the most fun players in his generation.
That extended to his routine to get away from the play, fall on his knees, turn his hand as if he had a loop and pretend to catch a calf in a rodeo before extending both arms to the crowd. It was a showman.
The turning point in the career of Jared Allen He arrived with the consummation of the 2008 exchange that sent him from the Chiefs to the Vikingsits promising beginning in the NFL Fogged by problems outside the field that followed from Idaho State.
The general manager of the Chiefs, Carl Petersonwho selected Allen in the fourth round in 2004, disappointed the prodigious QB's hunter after two different citations for drunk driving in 2006 and declared him a “young man at risk.” Allen was bothered by the lack of support from the main office and asked to be transferred, in the absence of a new contract.
After accumulating 15.5 captures in 14 games in 2007 after fulfilling a suspension of two games, Allen finally obtained his desire. Having left alcohol after the second arrest, he redoubled his conditioning efforts with the determination to prove his worth.
“I loved Kansas City. I wanted to spend all my career there. Unfortunately, you learn that the commercial side of the game can be a bit ruthless, and I am stubborn enough to want to go out with mine,” Allen reflected.
Los Vikings They sent their first round and two third -round selections in 2008 to the ChiefsThen they signed Allen with a six -year contract and 73 million dollars that at that time was the largest in history for a defensive player. Each penny also won, without salary reductions or early releases that often follow high money contracts in a league that has little patience for the decrease in production by players with great impacts on the salary cap.
“With such a contract and such an exchange is a lot of pressure,” said Allen. “It is not in my nature to rest in my laurels. The most impressive thing was that I could fulfill it. I think I represented myself.”
Allen averaged more than 14 captures per season for six years with Vikingsincluding a personal record of 22 captures in 2011 that was halfway to the record established by Michael Strahan and then matched by T.J. Watt.
Allen is officially in 12th place in the career list, a statistic that the NFL He did not compile until 1982. Pro Football Reference research on all games played before then produced a complete list that has Allen with the 16th greater amount of catches in history, after finishing his career with the Chiago Bears in 2014 and being transferred to the Carolina Panthers The following season.
While leaving his problem with the drink and wiped out the field, Allen never lost his lifestyle seeking emotions, once running a confine Texas With a knife. It was the soul of the party in the costume with the Vikings, where he forged friends for life that transcended the bitter disappoint New Orleans Saints in the NFC championship game after the 2009 season.
Collected at the airport of Minneapolis After the exchange for defensive line coach Karl Dunbar and the alpha males of the position group, Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, Allen quickly knew that he was in the right place. “I am as competitive as anyone, and took another level when entering that room,” said Allen. “At the time I went up to that car, Pat and Kevin began to talk about how I couldn't play the race.”
Jared Allen He formed the center of the Vikings with the Williams in one of the best defensive lines of the League. He was frequently at his best when the lights were on, including a 4.5 captures set about Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay When Brett Favre took the Vikings to a victory in 2009 in his first confrontation of revenge against the Packers.
Los Vikings They have a long history of dominant defensive linens, with Alan Page, Carl Eller, Chris Dateman and John Randle all consecrated before Allen in Canton. The famous Purple People Eaters – Page, Eller, Jim Marshall and Gary Larsen – helped the Vikings reach four Super Bowls and established a high standard for their successors.
“You're never going to compete with them, but I wanted people to talk about me, Pat and Kevin,” said Allen. “We wanted to be the most fierce and unpleasant front that could be, and all that was to give respect to the boys who did it before us.”
