Jared Allen: from NFL bone-cruncher to Olympic curling hopeful

In 2018, retired NFL defensive end Jared Allen took up curling in the hopes that he would one day be an Olympian in the sport.

“Yeah, right” was a perfectly reasonable reaction. Allen had dedicated most of his adult life to football – only 11 men have more NFL career sacks and he is a three-time finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Most competitive curlers have been sliding around on ice since preschool, honing the skills and acumen necessary to win at their local clubs, let alone the Olympic trials. Allen, meanwhile, had never played the sport seriously and spent most of his time smashing into other very large men before retiring from football in 2016.

This month, Allen and his teammates opened the US Championships by defeating the 2018 gold medalists.

The rest of the week didn’t go their way, and John Shuster’s team of Olympians bounced back to win yet another national title. But the chances of the four-time All-Pro lineman representing the US in Italy in 2026, while still a long shot, are not impossible. Allen’s team played a dozen events this season and racked up wins over several championship-caliber teams, including the top-ranked US team led by Korey Dropkin.

“You’ve got to face these guys,” Allen says. “You know you can beat them, so you’ve got to draw from that.”

So could Allen break through at the US Championships and go on to play for a world title? Or even at the Olympic trials?

“If he’s with the right teammates, which is huge, he could possibly compete for a national championship at some point,” says Tyler George, who played with Shuster in the Olympics.

At first, Allen didn’t quite have those teammates. He started with a group of fellow NFL retirees – former quarterback Marc Bulger, former linebacker