Jared Allen spent his final NFL days in the Carolina Panthers' locker room before literally riding off into retirement. As a guest on NFL Network's Total Access Thursday, the defensive end gushed about his experience with the Panthers.
"They have some great talent there," Allen said. "That place is literally a walking cliché. I got in there and was like, this can't be real. It's like a mirage, and no one knows about it? This is cool."
That's high praise from a veteran who spent 12 seasons in the NFL, from Kansas City, to Minnesota, to Chicago, to Carolina. When asked to explain what he meant, Allen pointed not only at the talent, but the culture Ron Rivera created.
"Again, like I said, there's zero drama. Zero. I mean, I've never been on a team where there's zero locker room drama at all," Allen said. "And the veterans have done such a good job ... the young guys make it easy to lead because they follow. But it's all because coach Rivera has set this culture -- it is a player-run locker room but that stems from the head coach.
"...And they coach the crap out of you, but in a good way. It's not overly done."
Allen also praised Charles Johnson, who was released by the Panthers Thursday, noting that he hopes the pass rusher ends up back in Carolina when all is said and done.
"Charles is a huge leader in that locker room," Allen said. "So, hopefully he gets to finish his career there, I don't know if they're going to get something done. But it's a cool spot and they'll be just fine."
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