David Levine
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Jonathan Allen saw culture and scheme fits in Minnesota
The Pro Bowl defensive tackle talked at length on Wednesday about his choice to join the Vikings
By Matthew Coller
A player with Jonathan Allen’s resume would be expected to have plenty of options when he reaches free agency, particularly at a position that is in massive demand following the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive-line driven Super Bowl victory. Yet Allen didn’t take very long to choose his new home. Just one day after free agency opened, Allen was a Minnesota Viking.
When the two-time Pro Bowler was informed by the Washington Commanders that he was going to be released, he got together with his Minnesota-based agent Blake Baratz and made a list of all the things that he wanted in a new franchise. He was looking for a city (cities) that could embrace him, a place where his family would be part of the community and organization, a team that had good coaching and a legitimate chance to win and a quality culture. The team also had to have the cap space to afford him.
The Vikings checked every box.
During his introductory press conference with the Twin Cities media, Allen went through all the ways in which the Vikings fit his criterial. By far the No. 1 thing he needed was a place for his family.
“I definitely wanted to take my family into consideration,” Allen said. “I would say it was between 20 and 50 percent of my decision. When you look at year in and year out how they are graded [in the NFLPA survey], when your wife and family is able to be included with things in the community, it definitely makes that decision a lot easier.”
The Vikings received A+ scores from players in the anonymous NFLPA survey for the category of family treatment.
They also got A+ score from players for head coach Kevin O’Connell. Back in Washington, Allen was just arriving in the NFL when O’Connell was coaching quarterbacks, so they didn’t get to know each other well but the astute Allen took notice of the culture that O’Connell built in Minnesota en route to a 14-win season in 2024.
“Culture isn’t something you can tangibly touch but you can feel it,” Allen explained. “When something bad happens during the game, you look at the sideline for guys’ reactions. I think it becomes pretty evident of a good culture and a bad culture with how players react during situations in the game…it’s easy to turn one bad play into two or three bad plays and that could be the difference in the game.”
He continued…
“Also, the NFL is hard and nobody wants to come to an environment where nobody is upbeat or excited to do the job. That was one of the biggest reasons why I chose this place.”
Make no mistake, the Vikings’ culture has been assisted greatly by winning football games. One of the biggest reasons for their success in 2024 was the top-five defense that Brian Flores operated. Allen will be coming from a different type of system with Washington head coach Dan Quinn but he sees something on tape from Flores that he likes: Opportunity to win his matchups.
“They refer to him as a mad scientist,” Allen said of Flores. “Some games will be 3-4, bringing pressure pressure off both ends and some games we’re switching it up. Every week being in that playbook is a big key. I really like how he’s able to create space on the inside and allow guys to get one-on-ones and when you get one-on-ones, you gotta be able to win those.”
Allen has won a lot of one-on-ones in his career. Since being selected 17th overall in 2017, he has produced 42.0 sacks and ranked in the top 15 in QB pressures every year between 2020 and 2023, peaking at the 4th best mark in the league with 67 in 2021.
Last year Allen missed a significant chunk of games for the first time since his rookie year. He suffered a pectoral injury in Week 6 against the Baltimore Ravens. The injury was expected to keep him out for the remainder of the year but he was able to return at the end of the season and play in the postseason.
“When they went in for the surgery, it wasn’t as bad as anybody anticipated or as bad as the MRI showed,” Allen said. “I’d say in 10-12 weeks I was already benching 85% of my maximum force. Once the playoffs came around, I was pretty much healthy. The only thing I had to get back into was football shape…from a health standpoint, it’s a non-issue.”
He certainly got back into football shape in Washington’s most impressive game in many, many years. Against the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round, Allen created seven QB pressures against Jared Goff and was the highest graded Commanders pass rusher for the game by PFF.
All together, in half of a season’s worth of games in 2024, Allen still finished with 26 pressures and 3.0 sacks, which is on pace to hit his typical marks for his career. It’s also only five fewer pressures than the Vikings’ leading interior rusher from last season Jihad Ward.
The Vikings need Allen’s prowess in the middle. Since Sheldon Richardson’s 2018 season, they have lacked a player that strikes fear into the opposition from a pass rush perspective. Last year the Vikings got very strong run defense out of Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard but didn’t have a defensive tackle who could consistently get into the backfield, especially on early downs.
Allen is already aware of what extra success in the pass rush could mean with two star outside linebackers who were among the league leaders in sacks last season.
“I know we all like to look at sacks but if you can provide interior pressure with guys like Andrew Van Ginkel and JG on the outside, it just makes everybody’s life easier,” Allen said. “Getting the quarterback off his spot, forcing throws to miss high and off target. When you add that element of interior pressure, it helps the defense out tremendously.”
It certainly does. The champion Eagles, if you were wondering, had two top-20 DTs in QB pressures. The Vikings will be trying to recreate that with Allen and Javon Hargrave, who they signed following his release by the 49ers.
https://www.purpleinsider.football/p/jonathan-allen-saw-culture-and-scheme?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=43357&post_id=159431600&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=cw6xb&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
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