It’s rare when a athlete today plays out the entire length of their contract, but that’s exactly what Jared Allen is prepared to do.
The star defensive end, who is entering the final season of a six-year contract he signed with the Vikings, says he wants to “honor” his commitment.
“Hey, I signed a contract for six years. They signed a contract for six years,” Allen tells the Star Tribune. “It’s very, very rare when both sides honor that. A lot of guys get let go in the last year or restructure the last year. Or for example guys play one good year and they want to re-up. So, for me, this is the commitment I made. Let me honor that. They want to honor it. So that’s great for me. I have no beefs, quarrels, no nothing.”
“We’re going to play it out and we’ll come to a decision together with what the future lies,” Allen added. “I don’t worry about it. As long as you take care of what you’ve got to take care of between these white lines, and you’re not a complete idiot outside of them, the money will take care of itself. I just want to play ball, have a good year and try to win a Super Bowl.”
Even though Allen was at OTAs, he wasn’t practicing, and he probably won’t, according to head coach Leslie Frazier.
We probably won’t see him until we get to training camp, but from everything that Eric Sugarman and our staff has told me medically, he is doing great. There won’t be any problem when we get to training camp and we’re looking forward to having him when the time comes. But the fact that he’s in town, he’s doing his rehab here, coming out to our practices, that’s a good thing. It’s good to have him in our meetings as well.
Allen is set to make $14.2 million this season.
