For Jared Allen, the honor of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame comes not from seeing his name enshrined, but from seeing all of the names among which his will now stand.

"I play for the respect of my peers and the respect of those who played before me," Allen said at a news conference Tuesday. "I want to honor those who I think did it the right way."

Having started his career with the Kansas City Chiefs and spent the better part of it with the Minnesota Vikings, he had plenty of great defensive players to try to live up to.

"Derrick Thomas — when you go to the Chiefs and you're a pass rusher, that is a big shadow you live under," Allen said. "And so I wanted to honor him by being better than him."

Allen also mentioned Alan Page — who he said should be "citizen of the century" — and Carl Eller.

"I'm still afraid of him," Allen said. "I'm like, goodness, that dude's a monster. He could probably still go out and get five sacks."

Then there are the guys he played alongside — Pat Williams, Kevin Williams, Ray Edwards and all of his other compatriots on various Vikings' defenses. Allen was already an All-Pro when the Vikings traded for him, but he said arriving in Minnesota forced him to elevate his game.

"From the minute I got here there was an expectation. Ben [Leber] said I'm one of the fiercest competitors, I am. I am as competitive as they come and it was brought to another level walking into that room," Allen said. "I walked into a buzzsaw of competitive people from the defensive side."

While Allen was the face of some ferocious defenses during his time in Minnesota — "We were smashing people up front and literally choking them out" — it's the relationships he formed off the field that linger in his mind.

"I met some amazing men in that Minnesota locker room ... Great husbands, great fathers and at the end of the day, to me that's 10 times more important to me than anything we do on the football field," he said. "Statistics, they're going to come and go. Someone's going to beat them all the time, right? Those memories, those lessons you learn are what really sticks or stands the test of time."

Allen had 85.5 sacks during his time in Minnesota, giving fans plenty to cheer for. To hear him tell it, those fans are the reason he never stopped competing, even during a 3-13 year in 2011, during which he came half a sack shy of the single-season record.

"Who am I, who is making a very good wage playing a game that I loved since I was a little kid, capturing my American dream, who was I not to go out there and give it everything I had and make sure the people paying their hard-earned money to come watch me play didn't understand that and feel that I was appreciative of them?" he said.

His only regret? That he couldn't bring those fans a Lombardi Trophy.

"It kills me that we couldn't get to a Super Bowl, because I really do feel like in 2009, if we go to the Super Bowl, we're hands down winning it," he said. "That was a special year."

Allen has an encouraging message for current Vikings fans, though: He thinks the team has the pieces to finally bring home a championship. Allen said he likes "the fight the guys have," that defensive coordinator Brian Flores is "crushing it" and that he's "fangirling" over head coach Kevin O'Connell.

"I'm excited where we go. We're close," he said. "I'll state the obvious, we've been close for a long time, right? The next hurdle in the Vikings organization is how do we get there?"

This year's Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Aug. 2. Jared Allen will be inducted alongside defensive back Eric Allen, tight end Antonio Gates and wide receiver Sterling Sharpe.

Note: The video above originally aired Feb. 7, 2025.