April 29--Regardless of whether Jared Allen lined up with his hand in the grass or in a two-point stance Wednesday, the simple fact he was at Bears practice is noteworthy. Even Allen's teammates know his reputation for skipping his team's offseason program.
"Everyone's busting my chops -- 'you actually came back for voluntary minicamp?'" Allen cracked after practice.
But for Allen, it wasn't much of a choice. The comfort and familiarity he enjoyed in past stops in Kansas City and Minnesota is gone. Not only is he coming off one of the most unproductive seasons of his career, the longtime defensive end is learning to play outside linebacker.
In his 12th NFL season, the challenge has been invigorating.
"Yesterday during walkthrough, the way I learn, I try to equate things to what I've done in the past, what I know, different terminology -- and I just had to scrap that," Allen said. "I was texting my wife last night and I was like, 'College football again, just learning a whole new system.' I'm at home studying the playbook. I haven't done that in 10 years."
The greatest hurdle for Allen is understanding concepts of the entire defense, a requirement in his new role because of occasional coverage responsibilities. When he was a defensive lineman, he could narrow his focus to what the line was doing and get his keys from the offensive tackle.
"The rush aspect is going to be the same," Allen said. "It's just repetitions of getting off the ball in a two-point stance rather than a three-point stance. The matchups it creates is going to be cool. I think there will be a lot more one-on-one opportunities, a lot more mismatches. That part's fun. But, again, it's just kind of building up muscle memory and then on the plays you have to cover, you're not just kind of eating up space, you literally have to cover somebody."
Allen is attacking the transition at full throttle. He met with new general manager Ryan Pace and coach John Fox in march at the owners' meetings in Phoenix to express his enthusiasm, and that has carried over to the voluntary offseason program.
Now, he enjoys digging into his iPad, which is full of video of Aldon Smith and DeMarcus Ware-- top edge rushers who've excelled from the outside linebacker spot.
"For me as a student, as a fan of the game, I get to watch guys now that I respect as rushers because now their craft is pertinent to me," he said. "Sometimes I can't watch what certain players are doing because of the differences of style. Right? Now, I can go back and watch film on like Justin Houston and Tamba (Hali) and all these guys and see how they attack in the 3-4, how standing goes, because there's some angle differences versus being in a stance versus being in a stance and being on your feet."
In the process, Allen is feeding off the energy generated by the regime change, and he's helping to spread it, as well.
"You look at the staff, they've had success everywhere they go," Allen said. "That's all we really want. We want to have success. We want to be put in position to have success. It's kind of instantaneous bought-in. It's just, let's go."
