Jared Allen believes he won’t play for Minnesota Vikings next season
Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen (69) celebrates his sack against the Washington Redskins in the fourth quarter at Mall of America Field at H.H.H. Metrodome. The Vikings win 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
The defensive end on the Minnesota Vikings with the biggest name is definitely Jared Allen, but the team’s best defensive end is the undervalued Brian Robison. Well, undervalued by some fans, because the Vikings certainly showed that they value him highly by giving him an extension earlier this season. His contract was set to expire, but the Vikings wisely decided to re-up him before the offseason. Allen is also an expiring contract, but the Vikings decided to extent the younger, cheaper, and better end. Although Allen gets more sacks, Robison does a better job of consistently putting pressure on the quarterback and is also the more well-rounded player.
Allen made the rounds during the trade deadline, but his sky-high salary was a massive deterrent for contending teams. He will continue to be in the news once the season is over, because he’ll be one of the biggest names on the free agent market. Even though Allen isn’t the player he used to be, he’s still good and has recorded five sacks this season.
Now that his monster contract is coming down to a close, Allen sounds like a man who knows he won’t be staying with his team for much longer. He told the USA Today’s Tom Pelisero, “To be real honest, I’m going to have to look at the situation of the team. If I continue to play, you want to try to win a championship at some point. Personal accolades can only go so far.”
At this point in time, personal accolades need to be the furthest thing from Allen’s mind, especially since it would be great to see Allen’s successful career rewarded with a ring at the tail-end of it. Furthering the point that he won’t be back next year, Allen referenced Robison’s success and contract by stating that he wants to see what Robison can do as “the guy”.