EAGAN, Minn. — Donning a freshly steamed Stetson and custom belt buckle, Vikings Ring of Honor defensive end and 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Jared Allen leaned his long frame over a podium and rolled for more than 30 minutes.

He reflected on how much relationships have meant and rip-roarious along the way. Neither should surprise anyone familiar with Allen's 12-season career that featured 136 sacks, 228 QB hits (a number tracked after Allen's first two seasons in Kansas City) and side-splitting humor.

Former teammate Ben Leber introduced Allen to Twin Cities media members Tuesday, less than a month after Allen was announced as a member of the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class. He will be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, this summer.

"Being relentless and being disruptive was the name of his game," said Leber, pointing out "how tenacious" Allen was, whether on the football field or chasing five-of-a-kind in Yahtzee.

We'll start there as we count down the top five "yee haw-ha" moments from one of a kind.

5. Yahtzee "gets intense"

Allen was asked to validate whether he is, in fact, good at Yahtzee.

"Yeah, I dominate. I'm not a gambler, but I Yahtzee. Yahtzee gets intense, trying to thumb-roll some dice. Yahtzee got intense. That was a great way to kill the time, you know, especially when [former Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress] wouldn't let us — we all had to stay in the dorm [during training camp]. I tried to pitch for RVs at training camp. I brought it one year, and coaches took over my RV. That sucks, but yeah, Yahtzee was legit."

4. How he got his NFL jersey number

The career arc for Allen began as a fourth-round pick by Kansas City out of Idaho State in 2004. The Chiefs have retired 10 jerseys, which reduces the number available when the rosters are at their offseason max and increases the occurrences of two players in the same jersey number.

Allen was issued No. 69 (after wearing 1 in high school and 41 in college) along with an offensive lineman he didn't name.

"They gave me 69 out of college, and there was a fat o-lineman that had a 69, and I was just like, 'Oh, tight. I have to share a number with somebody. It can only be one of us, and I can't get cut for this guy.' And I was like, 'This is a gross number.' … 'They gave me an o-lineman number. They're definitely cutting me.' And so I make the team. And [former Chiefs defensive line coach] Bob Karmelowicz and our equipment guy came up to me and said, 'Hey, why don't you change your number? You want a 90s number now?' Bob had a raspy voice and said, 'You're an old-school player. That's an old-school number. You keep it and make it cool.' I just wanted to play, so I was like, 'My coach tells me to keep the number, I'm going to keep the number.' "

Allen wore No. 69 with Kansas City, Minnesota, Chicago and Carolina.

3. Spin moves outlawed

Allen was asked about pulling lessons by watching film of other players and listed Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas immediately before pivoting to explain he also learned whom he should not draw lessons from.

"I tried to learn something from everybody that I watched film on. And sometimes you've gotta learn what not to do too, right? Like I had to learn in my second year never to watch Dwight Freeney [and] Robert Mathis film. I tried to throw a spin move in my second year, and I almost got cut from the Chiefs. Bob Karmelowicz, God rest his soul. He called me Gumby. He said, 'Gumby, if you ever throw another [expletive] spin move again, unless you're getting chipped, you are out of here.' And he banned me from watching Dwight Freeney film or anybody that spun.

"Derrick Thomas, when you go to the Chiefs and you're a pass rusher, that's a big shadow you live under. I wanted to honor him by being better than him, and I watched countless hours of his film. I learned how to get off the ball. I could never understand how he was so fast off the ball, until I realized by asking questions to other people, he never watched the ball. He watched the quarterback's hands, right? So, 99% of all — unless you're Peyton Manning, he's the only one that will drop his hands on a hard count. Every quarterback drops his hands right before he asks for the ball, so I always got off the ball from the quarterback's hands. Even if I was offsides, I was never offsides. They drop their hands, that's on them."

2. Initial impressions of Minnesota

When the Vikings acquired Allen in a trade in 2008 (and made him the NFL's highest-paid defensive player at the time), he was greeted by the Williams Wall, which had its own dialect.

"[Karl] Dunbar, Pat [Williams] and Kevin [Williams] … are the three largest human beings I've ever seen in my life. They picked me up at the airport, and I get into the car, and they're all from Louisiana. Kevin's from Arkansas. Pat's doing all the talking, and I don't speak 'Pat' yet, so I've got nothing to say. He's got a gold chain and a neck tattoo, and I've got cowboy hats, and I'm like, 'Uhhhh, we're gonna be best friends, I think. This is how it's gonna happen.' And I had to learn to talk 'Pat,' and we went to Redstone, and I just stared at his mouth in a non-creepy way. Just like, 'What is this dude saying? But I like it. It's provocative.'

"I think from the minute I got here, there was an expectation. Ben said I'm one of the fiercest competitors. I am as competitive as they come. And it was brought to another level walking into that room. The minute I got in that car, Pat and Kevin started talking trash about how I couldn't play the run. I'm like, 'I just had 80 tackles. What are you talking about?'

"So every year, my goal wasn't worrying about sacks. I was trying to beat these guys in tackling the run. So that's what I remember. When I first got here, I walked into a buzzsaw of competitive people from the defensive side. Nobody was like, 'Oh, finally, we got somebody here.' It was almost like they were pissed off that I was here, because they felt like, 'What, we need this guy to get where we want?' And I mean, they reminded me every single day, 'You know, we're the No. 1 run defense,' and I'm like, 'You guys suck at getting to the quarterback, though.' "

1. So far, the Hall of Fame Card only goes so far

Allen was asked if he's been able to play the Hall of Fame card around his house in Tennessee.

"Nope, was literally doing yard chores yesterday. Am falling behind on them today. Nobody cares. They're like, 'My dad is somewhat cool.'

"It is cool because my kids were young [when I played]. Not all of us had teenagers like Pat when we were playing. Pat's kids were going to prom when we were playing. He's the oldest human being in the NFL. How is that possible?

"I had kids later in life, so for me, it's cool to — I was just telling someone I was in the old St. Louis [football dome] for a club volleyball tournament right after the Super Bowl. My daughter got to play there. That was kind of cool, but for them, I'm Dad. I guess now to look back on things they don't remember I'm assuming is good for them. Maybe it's not. Maybe they've got more friends, I don't know. The young boys are still mean, and they say Josh Allen's a better player than me, so I get mistaken for Josh Allen a lot.

"Literally, at the Super Bowl, the guy was like, 'Josh Allen?' and gave me his keys. And I'm like 'No, but what room number is that? That's more money that's going on his breakfast tab.' So the Hall of Fame card doesn't go far at all at home. And I'm not, and I'm a very glorified, like intern, volleyball coach, but I'm not above spiking on little kids."