What started as a bet has turned into a passion for former NFL defensive end Jared Allen.
And it now has him attempting to make the Olympics as a curler, eight years after he retired from the NFL.
His pursuit had started as a wager with a friend about qualifying for a PGA Tour event.
However, after seeing the story of Eddie the Eagle, an unlikely Olympic ski jumper from England, Allen set his sights on trying to qualify for an even bigger stage.
Allen first looked at giving badminton a shot, but after doing some research the 41-year-old realized that was “way too much movement for me at this age.”
Then the one-time pass rusher came across curling.
“I read the rules of curling, it was like the winners have to buy the losers beer. Most people start in their 40s, I was like right up my alley,” Allen recently told The Post.
Jared Allen is shooting to make the Olympics in curling.Bob Weder
Five years since that bet, Allen is still pursuing his goal of making the Olympics, which will bring him to New Jersey next week for the curling US National Championships at The Rink at American Dream from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4.
Allen said his skills have improved leaps and bounds since he started, but realized just how great the challenge would be when John Shuster and the US won gold in curling at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
“At that point, I was already too far down the rabbit hole, so then I look like a jerk talking about how I’m going to try to make the Olympics in curling when we just won a gold medal at,” he said with a laugh. “Took a bet and now five years later I refuse to welch on the bet.”
Jared Allen celebrates a sack for the Vikings.AP
Over that time, Allen has gone from competing with former NFLers Marc Bulger, Keith Bulluck and Michael Roos to working with former Olympian Jason Smith, whom Allen said he’s competed with off and on for over five years.
Allen spent 12 years in the NFL and is 12th on the league’s all-time sacks list.
Curling, though, represented a massive change from anything he had ever done before.
“You look at it and people go, oh it’s like shuffleboard on ice,” the longtime Viking said.
“I think for me, the strategic part was something that was very interesting. Obviously the physical side, I can learn physical things. … But, the dynamic of how to determine how hard to throw, tracking ice conditions, paying attention to all those little things. All the minute angles that go into it, that’s where I think the sport is really fun and that’s where I think you see the best teams are the most consistent teams.
Jared Allen was inducted into the Vikings’ Ring of Honor in 2022.AP
Allen’s quest to qualify for the Olympics will take him through New Jersey, where the National Championships are taking place right next door to a venue — MetLife Stadium — he knows from his NFL days.
He hopes the proximity to New York City will draw more people to this year’s event and help grow the sport.
This year marks the first time that an elite-level curling event has been held in the region, as teams compete to move closer to representing the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Allen also hopes to build upon last year’s US National Championships where his team defeated Shuster’s squad 10-6 in the first game of round-robin play.
Allen and Smith will be teamed up once again during the US National Championships along with Rich Ruohonen, Sam Strouse and Aidan Oldenburg.
Curling is a team sport that involves four players who work to slide a granite stone down a long strip of ice — known as the pitch — into a target area.
The goal is for each team to get its stone closest to the middle, also known as the house, and points are awarded on how close a team’s stone is to the center of the house.
Curling was officially added to the Olympics for the 1998 games in Nagano.
“Definitely improved from last year and we’re excited,” Allen said. “Obviously earned our way to nationals and now we’re excited to go out there and try to get the ultimate crown which is the national title.”
While Allen is committed to curling, he has kept an eye on the NFL still since he retired.
Allen played for the Chiefs, Vikings, Bears and Panthers and was recently selected as a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the fourth time.
Allen joked that the “fourth time’s the charm” and felt “you really appreciate it and it really does humble you” being one of the 15 finalists.
