On verge of first Super Bowl, Jared Allen now looks back fondly on his time with Chiefs

Jared Allen leaned against the wall next to his locker, soaking it all in.

This was Jan. 24, the day of the NFC Championship Game. And while his teammates were laughing and hugging and celebrating their 49-15 win over the Arizona Cardinals, Allen — who was dressed in street clothes because he did not play due to a broken bone in his foot — nevertheless had a smile on his face.

“Because we all put so much into it — blood, sweat and tears,” Allen said. “That’s what it’s about, it’s about the fellowship and the camaraderie. That’s what makes this team so special.”

Allen is 33 years old now, his best years behind him. After seven straight years of double-digit sack seasons, that number trailed off to 5 1/2 with the Chicago Bears in 2014 and only two this year with the Bears and Panthers, despite starting 15 games in each season.

“In Chicago I had some ups and downs, I got sick and ruptured a disk in my back,” Allen said. “Then coming here, my first game here I ruptured my disk in my back again. So there’s been some injuries.

Yet, Allen, who spent his first four NFL seasons as a dynamite pass rusher with the Chiefs, is as fulfilled as ever. In his 12th season, he’s finally going to the Super Bowl, and that’s enough to make him forget about the injuries and drop in production.

“You know what’s funny — and I was talking with somebody about this the other day — football is always humbling,” Allen said. “But it’s been crazy because this year is probably the worst statistical one I’ve ever had, but it’s the most success I’ve ever had.

“You forget football is a team sport. You forget that when you’re young, no one is really keeping stats in Pop Warner, you’re keeping wins and losses. And you get to this place and I’m a product of it.”

For example, when Allen arrived in Kansas City as rookie in 2004, he remembers Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil encouraging him to simply focus on making himself the best player he could be.

“(He) told me, ‘Hey, the best way to help this team is by being the best defensive end you can be,’ ” Allen said. “So for me, that was what it was all about — I’ve got to be the best, and I think you lose perspective of wins and losses.

“So like I said, it’s been one of those years where yeah, I wanted to get to 150 sacks and do all these things, but I’m going to the Super Bowl. And that’s pretty (dang) cool.”

Allen has racked up 136 career sacks, which is tied for ninth all-time with Green Bay outside linebacker Julius Peppers. His career has obviously gone well — he’s a five-time Pro Bowler and a four-time first-team All-Pro selection — so there’s not much he’d change.

But looking back, yes, he could have seen himself playing in Kansas City for the duration of his career.

“A hundred percent, yeah, although they went to a 3-4 so they might have gotten rid of me eventually,” Allen joked with a hearty laugh. “Tamba (Hali) and Justin Houston are doing alright. They did OK (without me).”

Allen then reminisced about how great it was to drive into Arrowhead Stadium on gameday, when he’d take I-435 from his Overland Park home and immediately be greeted by the smell of football.

“Man, Kansas City was great, man — those fans down there were always (great),” Allen said. “I still remember everyday, pulling in and I could just smell that barbecue on the way to that stadium, man … you could just smell those coals burning and you knew it was time to rock. It’s pretty special.”

Allen was eventually traded to the Vikings for a large haul — a first-round pick and two third-round picks — after he and the Chiefs were at odds over negotiations for a long-term deal.

Allen felt the team failed to follow through on its promise to lock him up long-term, something he still grumbled about three years after the trade, when he called out general manager Carl Peterson and chairman Clark Hunt in a teleconference with Kansas City media.

Meanwhile, the team was concerned because had been arrested twice for DUI before the trade, and even served a two-game suspension for violation of the league’s substance-abuse policy.

The trade worked out for both teams. Two of the picks the Chiefs received turned into Branden Albert and Jamaal Charles, while Allen starred in Minnesota for six seasons and averaged 14 sacks a year, all while being a model citizen.

And since the Bears traded him to Carolina earlier this season, he’s helped youngsters like former Mizzou star Kony Ealy, who got the starting nod for Allen against the Cardinals.

“Jared’s been great man, ever since he got here,” Ealy said. “Ever since that moment, he’s always tried to push me in the right direction. He’s done that. He’s a true competitor, he’s teaching me what it means to be a true competitor. I’m just trying to get it done for him.”

Allen, who even doled out a high-five to Ealy after an early pressure against the Cardinals, simply says he’s matured.

“I’ve done a lot of growing up since I left there,” Allen said. “That was probably the best way to say that. You learn life lessons.

“From a football standpoint, I obviously got to go to Minnesota, had six great years there. Now I get to go here and go to the Super Bowl. So life has been good. I’ve got two beautiful daughters, a beautiful wife. So I can’t complain. The Lord is good, man.”

Yet, he maintains Kansas City will always hold a place in his heart. Whatever bitterness he felt about the way things ended has melted away, as evidence by the smile that creased his lips whenever he mentioned the city after the NFC Championship Game.

For instance, he couldn’t help but laugh when he remembered the time Chiefs fans cheered him at Arrowhead Stadium a few years back when he sacked Matt Cassel.

“Kansas City, it will always be a special place to me,” Allen said. “Obviously I was drafted there, got to play for two great coaches — coach Vermeil and Herm (Edwards) — and that city was always welcoming to me as soon as I got there, through the ups and downs. It’s just a genuine, blue-collar place that loves football.”

In fact, he said, Charlotte reminds him of Kansas City, which is a reason he’s enjoyed his tenure in Carolina so much.

“This place reminds me a lot of Kansas City with the community, just because it’s a smaller city but it feels like a big town with genuine support,” Allen said. “We get standing ovations when we come back from road games, and these kind of places make a player want to be a part of that community for a long time. That’s the love the fans showed.”

And when asked if he did have any regrets about his tenure in Kansas City, he admitted he did have one.

“I would avoid getting into trouble my early years,” Allen said with a laugh. “But I think that’s what life’s about, learning from your mistakes and growing. And I believe the Lord has a plan, and the path you take is the path he’s going to push you down.”

And make no mistake about it, Allen — who said he is planning on playing in the Super Bowl, injured foot and all — is happy to be on the one he’s on.

“You know what, hindsight is always 20-20,” Allen said. “If you could be in one place forever and win a Super Bowl, you’d do it. But that wasn’t reality, and it is what it is. I’m glad to be on this road.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl...#storylink=cpy