Jared Scot Allen (born April 3, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. A five-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro selection, he recorded 136 career sacks. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2025.
Allen played college football for the Idaho State Bengals and was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL draft. After four years with the Chiefs, Allen was traded to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for three draft picks, including a first rounder. He spent six years with the Vikings before joining the Chicago Bears as a free agent in 2014. He was traded to the Carolina Panthers during the 2015 season, with whom he played in Super Bowl 50. After retiring from the NFL, Allen took up curling and formed a team with other former NFL players.
Allen was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised on a horse ranch in Morgan Hill, California.
Allen first attended Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, but transferred to Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos for his senior year after he was expelled for selling stolen yearbooks. By then, Allen had lost many of his athletic scholarship offers, including from the University of Washington where he had already verbally committed. As a senior at Los Gatos, he was named first-team All-League and Defensive Player of the Year. He was also a first-team All-Central Coast Section selection, and a member of "Who's Who" in Sports Illustrated. Allen was selected by the North squad for the North vs. South San Jose Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star football game, after a senior season where he racked up 96 tackles, 12 sacks, five forced fumbles, and five fumble recoveries.
Allen attended Idaho State University, where he started 33 of 41 games for the Idaho State Bengals football team. The three-time All-Big Sky Conference selection finished his career with 250 tackles, 38.5 sacks, 73 stops for losses, seven fumble recoveries, three touchdowns, 13 forced fumbles, three interceptions, 26 pass deflections, and one blocked kick.
As a freshman in 2000, Allen was originally slated to redshirt the season, but this was reconsidered, and he eventually played in eight games for the Bengals and earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors without ever being a starter. In 2001, Allen earned first-team All-Big Sky honors, and led the Bengals with 16 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. As a junior in 2002, Allen was named second-team Division I-AA All-American by the Associated Press, and was also named first-team All-Big Sky for the second consecutive season. He led the team in sacks, tackles for loss (with 18), and also led all Bengal linemen with 63 tackles.
In 2003, as a senior, Allen won the Buck Buchanan Award, recording 17.5 sacks, 102 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles, three recovered fumbles, and nine pass deflections during 2003, ranking among the Big Sky Conference leaders in several defensive categories. Allen, a first-team Division I-AA All-American and a first-team All-Big Sky selection for the third straight season, led ISU to an 8–4 record that season, helping the school post its first back-to-back eight win seasons in school history. Idaho State finished the regular season ranked No. 21 in the nation.
Before the draft, Allen was projected as a sixth or seventh round prospect; NFL columnist Rick Gosselin ranked Allen as the 19th-best defensive end in the draft. Scouts rated his prospects better as a long snapper than on defense, with some calling him the best snapper in the class. He ended up being taken by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round.
Allen was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round (126th overall) of the 2004 NFL draft, and made the league minimum salary his first three years. During his rookie season, Allen played 15 games, starting 10 of them, and made 9 sacks on 31 tackles. In 2005, Allen appeared in all 16 games (starting 15) with 55 tackles, 11 sacks, 5 passes defended, 6 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries. In 2006, Allen started all 16 games with 77 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 1 interception, 10 passes defended, 5 forced fumbles and 6 fumble recoveries (joint most in the AFC). On May 21, 2007, Allen, as a restricted free agent, signed the Chiefs' one-year tender offer of US$2.35 million for the 2007 season. Allen credited his early season success to his mullet; with every sack Allen made, he was expected to shave a "racing stripe" into his hairstyle. On December 2, 2007, Allen caught a touchdown pass against division rival San Diego. On December 23, 2007, Allen caught another touchdown pass against the Detroit Lions.
After leading the NFL in sacks in 2007 with 15.5, Allen was selected as a starting defensive end for the AFC in the 2007 Pro Bowl and was also named in the All-Pro team for 2007.
In February 2008, the Chiefs placed the franchise tag on Allen, giving him a one-year, $8.8 million contract for 2008.
On April 22, 2008, the Chiefs traded Allen to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a first-round pick and two third-round picks (one of which was used to select Jamaal Charles), and the teams swapped sixth-round picks in the 2008 NFL draft. The Vikings then signed Allen to a six-year contract, which at the time was the richest contract for a defensive player in NFL history. Allen was due an $8 million roster bonus in 2010, per the six-year, $72.36 million contract he signed with the Vikings, and his signing bonus was $15.5 million.
During the 2008 season, Allen recorded 54 tackles, along with 14.5 sacks, 3 passes defended, 3 forced fumbles, and 2 enforced safeties, while battling both knee and shoulder injuries throughout the season. He was named First-team All-Pro and selected to his second Pro Bowl. His first sack as a Viking was in a game against the Indianapolis Colts, when he sacked quarterback Peyton Manning. In his first playoff game as a Viking, Allen recorded three tackles, along with two sacks and a forced fumble. Allen also forced a safety when he chased Dan Orlovsky out of the end zone during a game against the Detroit Lions, and he forced another safety in the week 10 game against the Green Bay Packers, when he sacked Aaron Rodgers in the end zone.
On October 5, 2009, against the Green Bay Packers, Allen set a career-high with 4.5 sacks, as well as having his third safety in the previous two years. A week later, against the St. Louis Rams, he returned a fumble 52 yards, for the first defensive touchdown of his career. He also made the 2009 Pro Bowl, as the starting defensive end for the NFC team. For the 2009 year, Allen made 51 tackles with 14.5 sacks, an interception, 4 passes defended, 5 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, a defensive touchdown, and a safety enforced.
Allen started the 2010 season slowly, having only one sack in the first 7 games, but had 10 sacks in the next 9 games, making him 10th in the league with 11 sacks. In the season finale against the Detroit Lions, Allen scored his second career defensive touchdown, a 36-yard interception return. Overall in 2010, Allen finished with 60 tackles, 11 sacks, 2 interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), 6 passes defended, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. He was ranked 80th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2011.
In 2011, Allen returned to Kansas City. The Vikings lost the game 22–17. On January 1, 2012, Allen set the single-season franchise record for most sacks by a Viking, with 22 sacks. In Week 17 against the Chicago Bears, Allen sacked Josh McCown 3.5 times, but fell a half sack short of the NFL record held by former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan. Allen appeared on NFL's Top 100 players of 2012, and was ranked #13. Allen was voted 67 spots higher than last year, the biggest leap on the list. Allen fell seven votes short of winning AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year. On October 2, 2012, Allen was fined $7,875 for grabbing Tampa Bay Buccaneers lineman Donald Penn's facemask.