As the trading deadline got closer earlier this season, Vikings defensive end Jared Allen’s name came up a lot.
He wound up remaining in Minnesota, but made it clear he was open to go to a contender even though he said he was “all in” with the Vikings for the rest of this season. That desire hasn’t gone away. Allen is set to be a free agent after the season and his comments to Tom Pelissero of USA Today about his outlook for the future don’t do much to provide hope that he’s staying in town.
Allen said that he’ll need to take a long look at the situation in Minnesota because he wants to play for a team that has the pieces in place to win a championship. Allen also said that he wants to see how defensive end Brian Robison does as “the guy” on the Vikings defensive line this year and spoke openly about returning to the Vikings for one day to retire at the end of a career that he presumably thinks he’ll be spending elsewhere.
“Wherever I go, when I retire, I’m going to call them and say, ‘Hey, let me sign a one-day contract,’” Allen said. “Minnesota will always be in my heart. But I don’t know what the future holds. We haven’t talked about it. I’m trying not to think about it.”
There’s a lot of time between now and March and we’ll have to see if the market for veteran pass rushers is more robust than this offseason, but it certainly seems like Allen is planning to hang his hat somewhere else in 2014.