Jared Allen should have been an all-time great in Kansas City. even though he only played four seasons for the Chiefs he still holds the seventh most sacks in franchise history.
Since the late 1990s, Kansas City has had a rich history of drafted and developing top-tier pass rushers. The greatest pass rusher in Chiefs history is none other than Derrick Thomas. Despite his career being shortened due to prodigy he is miles ahead with the raw numbers. Over 169 games played he accrued 126.5 sacks.
The next players on the will not surprise any Chiefs fans as they are all fan favorites. Tamba Hali got 89.5 sacks in 177 games, Neil Smith got 85.5 in 138 games, Justin Houston got 78.5 sacks in 102 games and Chris Jones has gotten to the QB 65 times while playing in 107 games. The only top player on the list that may not be immediately recognized is Eric Hicks who got 44.5 sacks in 128 games. Then Allen, who got to the quarterback 43 times in 61 games.
Allen is the first player to appear on the top ten list who did not play 100 games with Kansas City and if he had he would be one of the best pass rushers in Chiefs history.
Allen had a good rookie year with nine sacks in 2004. He followed it up with 11 in 2005 and had a little bit of a fall-off in 2006 with 7.5 sacks. His production exploded in his contract year with 15.5 sacks. Unfortunately for Kansas City, he would leave for Minnesota.
His production would continue at an elite level while playing for the Vikings. The next two years he got 14.5 sacks. His production dipped a bit in 2010 when he got 11 sacks but once again he had an elite season when he lead the league with 22 sacks. That would be his high water mark and would only have two more seasons of double-digit sack numbers.
If you only include his years in Minnesota and Kansas City Allen played a total of 157 games and totaled 126.5 sacks. That is the same number that Thomas got during his career.
Even if you just double the number of games and production that Allen got while he was in Kansas City he would still be in the top three. He would have played in 122 games and have 86 sacks to his name. That would give him more sacks than Smith in 12 fewer games.
Allen was truly a great pass rusher and even though his time was limited in Kansas City he should be remembered as such.
