The Pro Football Hall of Fame committee has chosen the 26 modern-era players for the 2022 class, and only one of them played for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Defensive end Jared Allen has been named a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2022.
BREAKING: 7 first-year eligible players are among the list of 26 Modern-Era Player Semifinalists for the Class of 2022.
More on the semifinalists: t.co/C4z4QkeAF5
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Allen’s Career Blossomed in KC
Last year — his first year of eligibility — Allen was named a finalist but did not receive enough votes to be inducted.
Allen was a fourth-round draft pick of the Chiefs in the 2004 NFL Draft. The 11-year NFL veteran spent four seasons with Kansas City, accumulating 56 tackles for loss, 43 sacks during that time span, as well as 39 QB hits in 2006-07 (when that stat started being tracked), which were his two finals seasons in Kansas City. Allen was named an All-Pro for the first of four times in his career during his final season with the Chiefs — 2007 — in which he recorded 19 tackles for loss, 15.5 sacks, and 24 QB hits, per Pro Football Reference.
The following offseason, the Minnesota Vikings signed Allen to a six-year, $73.2 million contract, per OverTheCap. From that point on, Allen wouldn’t miss a game for six straight seasons and would collect three more All-Pro nods and four Pro Bowl nods.
Allen would finish his career with 136.0 sacks — 16th-most all-time — 171 tackles for loss, and 32 forced fumbles.
The committee will reduce the pool of 26 players to 15 finalists before the final voting process for the 2022 class, which will happen “early next year,” according to the Hall of Fame’s official website.
Chiefs Carry Win Streak Into Bye
Sitting with a half-game lead in the AFC West as the Chiefs enter their bye, four of the six remaining games on their schedule are division games (Denver Broncos twice, Los Angeles Chargers once, and Las Vegas Raiders once). Because of that, it worked out well that Kansas City dealt with their struggles early in the season, as it didn’t impact their standing in the division significantly thanks to only one of their divisional games taking place in the first nine weeks of the regular season (Chargers, Week 3).
Now riding a four-game win streak, the Chiefs sport a 7-4 record with six games left to play. The most important games of the season for Kansas City are coming up, which is perfect timing considering the team is finally starting to hit its stride.
“Every week is crazy in this league, so I’m not sure there are any statements. There’s not a lot of consistency going on right now amongst the NFL here. Every week is a big-time challenge. I’m talking about wins and losses haven’t been consistent,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said during his postgame press conference on Sunday, November 21. “There are these ups and downs, and teams are favored and then they get beat. I mean, it’s crazy. It’s what the league strived for, parity in this league, and I think they’ve done a great job with that.
“Every city has an opportunity to win football games, that’s a great thing, and we’re no different. We’ve got to just keep our nose to it and bear down as we go. Take each game as it comes. We haven’t proven anything yet. You can talk about it all after the season – go find an island and go lay around and tell everyone about it. But right now, not so much.”
Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid talking about the Chiefs after the game, but their words are relevant to the Cowboys, who sit at third place in the NFC standings:
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Former Chiefs Superstar Named Semifinalist for Pro Football Hall of Fame