After a five-year wait, former Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2025.
A Minnesota Vikings Ring of Honor member, Allen was a terror in the backfield for four franchises over his 12-year career, sacking the quarterback with ease. Let’s take a look at his legendary career ahead of the Vikings honoring him at halftime of their Week 2 Sunday Night Football game.
More About Hall of Famer Jared Allen
Allen was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised on a horse ranch in Morgan Hill, California. He initially attended Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill but transferred to Los Gatos High School for his senior year after being expelled for selling stolen yearbooks. He lost most of his athletic scholarship offers, including his offer to the University of Washington, where he had verbally committed.
Allen ended up at Idaho State University, where he started 33 of 41 games for the Idaho State Bengals. He was a three-time All-Big Sky Conference selection. He finished his career with 250 tackles, 38.5 sacks, 73 stops for loss,13 forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries, three touchdowns, 26 pass deflections, and three interceptions.
Jared Allen leads the SKOL chant to kick off Sunday Night Football!
ATLvsMIN on NBC
Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/YEZL4OgQie— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2025
In 2003, he won the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player. The college retired his No. 41. Before the 2004 NFL Draft, Allen was considered a sixth or seventh-round prospect. However, the Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the fourth round with the 126th overall pick.
Allen led the Chiefs in sacks as a rookie during the 2004 season. In 2007, he captured his first NFL sack title, getting the quarterback 15.5 times. He won again in 2011, besting his 2007 season total with 22 sacks.
The Chiefs traded Allen to the Vikings in 2007. During his six-year stint in Minnesota, Allen earned four Pro Bowl nods and was named First-team All-Pro three times. Following the 2013 season, he signed with the Chicago Bears and played for them for just over a season before being traded midseason to the Carolina Panthers in 2015.
He would finally make it to the Super Bowl when the Panthers faced off against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50, which also happened to be his final NFL game.
When he retired, Allen held multiple NFL and team records, including tied for the most NFL career safeties (4), tied for the most safeties in a season (2 in 2008), and tied for the most season leading the league in sacks (2). He finished his career with 136 sacks, 58 passes defended, six interceptions, and one returned for a touchdown.
