NEW ORLEANS - Jared Allen’s long, hard wait has ended in the Big Easy.
With Thursday’s prime-time NFL Honors show as his glitzy backdrop, Allen’s recognition as one of the most relentless edge rushers in league history finally arrived when the former Viking bolted across the stage inside the Saenger Theater as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s four-person Class of 2025. The sheer joy and exhale of exhaustion comes in Allen’s fifth year of eligibility, fifth year as a finalist and one year after he admitted to being “hugely disappointed and shocked” by a selection process that had left the four-time first-team All-Pro hanging as peers at his position leapfrogged him in fewer years of eligibility.
“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s still the greatest honor there is,” said Allen, who learned of his selection when Hall of Fame President Jim Porter and now-fellow Vikings Hall of Famer Steve Hutchinson, wearing the matching gold jacket Allen will receive this summer in Canton, Ohio, knocked on his door in Nashville late last week.
Joining Allen in this year’s class are Eagles cornerback Eric Allen, Chargers tight end Antonio Gates and seniors candidate and Packers receiver Sterling Sharpe. Changes in the process this year resulted in the 49 selectors, including this reporter, choosing the smallest class since four were selected in 2005. And no first-ballot finalists were chosen.
The selection committee met virtually Jan. 14. Eliminated first among Allen’s 14 modern-era peers were Eli Manning, Steve Smith Sr., Fred Taylor, Reggie Wayne and Terrell Suggs. The second cut to seven eliminated Darren Woodson, Marshal Yanda and Jahri Evans. Selectors then voted for their final five of the seven remaining. A minimum of three and a maximum of five could make it. The four who did not receive at least 80% of the vote and were eliminated were Luke Kuechly, Adam Vinatieri, Torry Holt and Willie Anderson.
Born a free spirit and self-proclaimed wild child on April 3, 1982, in Dallas, Allen grew up on a horse ranch in Morgan Hill, Calif. He played football at Live Oak High School until his senior year, when he transferred to Los Gatos High after being expelled for selling stolen yearbooks and refusing to name his accomplices. “Just dumb kid stuff I thought was funny but ended up not being funny,” the grown-up version of Allen recalled.
When the University of Washington pulled Allen’s Division I offer, little Idaho State pounced. Allen became the best defensive player in Division I-AA, but NFL teams were leery of the competition. Leery of that wild child reputation. Leery of what Allen admits were too many off-the-field scrapes that too often drew police intervention.
The Chiefs took Allen 126th overall in the fourth round in 2004. At the time, no one was predicting 136 career sacks, good for 12th best since the league began tracking them in 1982. No, the Chiefs actually liked Allen more as a long snapper — a skill Allen had been honing with his father, Ron, since second grade — and a backup lineman.