MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jared Allen will be wearing a cowboy hat next weekend in Canton for his Hall of Fame induction, the signature apparel that inspired his celebratory calf-roping act after each sack and still serves as a fitting snapshot of his off-the-field life.
Raised on a horse ranch in Northern California, Allen was audacious enough at age 8 to tell his father he planned to become a professional football player.
He fulfilled that vision with a relentless vengeance on the offensive tackles tasked with blocking him and the quarterbacks who tried to escape, using exceptional quickness, creative moves and pure strength to accumulate 136 sacks and four first team All-Pro selections as a defensive end over a 12-year career in the NFL.
“When you're doing what you love to do, you want to honor the game by being great, not in an arrogant way but in a way to show respect and gratitude for all those who came before you,” said Allen, who will be honored at the ceremony next weekend along with Antonio Gates, Eric Allen and Sterling Sharpe. “I always wanted to go out there and let people know I genuinely loved playing this game.”
First making his mark with the Kansas City Chiefs and then reaching another level with the Minnesota Vikings, Allen was one of the most fun-loving players of his generation.
That went all the way down to his routine of running away from the play, dropping to one knee, twirling his hand as if he had a lasso and pretending to catch a calf in a rodeo before extending both arms outward to the crowd. He was a showman who had plenty to show for it.
The crossroads of Allen's career came upon consummation of the 2008 trade that sent him from the Chiefs to the Vikings, his promising start in the NFL tainted by off-the-field trouble that followed him from Idaho State.
Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson, who drafted Allen in the fourth round in 2004, soured on the prodigious pass rusher after two different citations for drunken driving in 2006 and declared him a “young man at risk.” Allen was irked by the lack of front-office support and asked to be dealt, absent a new contract.
After accumulating 15 1/2 sacks in 14 games in 2007 after serving a two-game suspension, Allen finally got his wish. Having given up alcohol after the second arrest, he redoubled his conditioning efforts in determination to prove his worth.
“I loved Kansas City. I wanted to spend my whole career there. Unfortunately, you learn the business side of the game can be a little ruthless, and I'm just stubborn enough to want to get my way,” Allen said.
The Vikings sent their first-round pick and two third-round picks in 2008 to the Chiefs, then signed Allen to a six-year, $73 million deal that at the time was the largest in history for a defensive player. He earned every penny, too, without any salary reductions or early releases that often follow big-money contracts in a league that has little patience for declining production by players with large cap hits.
“With a contract like that and a trade like that comes a lot of pressure,” Allen said. “It's not in my saddle to rest on my laurels. The most impressive thing was I was able to play it out. I think I represented myself well."
Allen averaged more than 14 sacks per season over six years with the Vikings, including a career-best 22 sacks in 2011 that came within one-half of the record set by Michael Strahan and later matched by T.J. Watt.
Allen is officially 12th on the career sacks list, a statistic the NFL didn’t compile until 1982. Research by Pro Football Reference on all games played before then produced a comprehensive list that has Allen with the 16th-most sacks in history, after winding down his career with the Chicago Bears in 2014 and being traded to the Carolina Panthers the following season.
While he ditched his drinking problem and cleaned up off the field, Allen never lost his thrill-seeking lifestyle, once running with the bulls in Spain, and killing a wild boar in Texas with a knife. He was a joke-cracking, wide-smiling life of the locker room with the Vikings, where he forged lifelong friendships that transcended the bitter disappointment of losing in overtime to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC championship game after the 2009 season.
Picked up at the airport in Minneapolis after the trade by defensive line coach Karl Dunbar and the alpha males of the position group, Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, Allen quickly knew he was in the right place.
“I am as competitive as they come, and it was brought to another level walking into that room,” Allen said. “The minute I got into that car, Pat and Kevin started talking trash about how I couldn’t play the run.”
Allen formed the alpha center of those Vikings teams with the Williamses on one of the best defensive lines in the league. He frequently was at his best when the lights were on, including a 4 1/2-sack game on Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers when Brett Favre quarterbacked the Vikings to a 2009 victory in his first revenge matchup against the Packers.
The Vikings have a long history of dominant defensive linemen, with Alan Page, Carl Eller, Chris Doleman and John Randle all enshrined before Allen in Canton. The famed Purple People Eaters — Page, Eller, Jim Marshall and Gary Larsen — helped the Vikings reach four Super Bowls and set a high standard for their successor.
“You’re never going to race ’em, but I wanted people to talk about myself, Pat and Kevin,” Allen said. “We wanted to be the fiercest, nastiest front four you could be, and that was all to pay respect to the guys who did it before us.”
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FILE - Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen sacks Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers during an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 14, 2011, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke, File)
FILE - FILE - Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen gestures during the first half an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, in Minneapolis, Sept. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Genevieve Ross, File)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Justice Department is investigating whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have impeded federal immigration enforcement through public statements they have made, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The investigation focused on potential violation of a conspiracy statute, the people said.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a pending investigation by name.
CBS News first reported the investigation.
In response to reports of the investigation, Walz said in a statement: “Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic.”
Walz’s office said it has not received any notice of an investigation.
“This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, our local law enforcement, and our residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our streets," Frey said in a statement. "I will not be intimidated. My focus will remain where it’s always been: keeping our city safe.
The investigation comes during a weekslong immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul that the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation, resulting in more than 2,500 arrests.
The operation has become more confrontational since the fatal shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7. State and local officials have repeatedly told protesters to remain peaceful.
State authorities, meanwhile, had a message for any weekend protests against the Trump administration’s unprecedented immigration sweep in the Twin Cities: avoid confrontation.
“While peaceful expression is protected, any actions that harm people, destroy property or jeopardize public safety will not be tolerated,” said Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
His comments came after President Donald Trump backed off a bit from his threat a day earlier to invoke an 1807 law, the Insurrection Act, to send troops to suppress demonstrations.
“I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
A Liberian man who has been shuttled in and out of custody since immigration agents broke down his door with a battering ram was released again Friday, hours after a routine check-in with authorities led to his second arrest.
The dramatic initial arrest of Garrison Gibson last weekend was captured on video. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled the arrest unlawful Thursday and freed him, but Gibson was detained again Friday when he appeared at an immigration office.
A few hours later, Gibson was free again, attorney Marc Prokosch said.
“In the words of my client, he said that somebody at ICE said they bleeped up and so they re-released him this afternoon and so he’s out of custody,” Prokosch said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Gibson, 37, who fled the civil war in his West African home country as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed. He has remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, Prokosch said, and complied with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities.
In his Thursday order, the judge agreed that officials violated regulations by not giving Gibson enough notice that his supervision status had been revoked. Prokosch said he was told by ICE that they are “now going through their proper channels" to revoke the order.
Meanwhile, tribal leaders and Native American rights organizations are advising anyone with a tribal ID to carry it with them when out in public in case they are approached by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Native Americans across the U.S. have reported being stopped or detained by ICE, and tribal leaders are asking members to report these contacts.
Ben Barnes, chief of the Shawnee Tribe in Oklahoma and chair of the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, called the reports “deeply concerning”.
Organizers in Minneapolis have set up application booths in the city to assist people needing a tribal ID.
Democratic members of Congress held a local meeting Friday to hear from people who say they've had aggressive encounters with immigration agents. St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who is Hmong American, said people are walking around with their passports in case they are challenged, and she has received reports of ICE agents going from door to door “asking where the Asian people live.” Thousands of Hmong people, largely from the Southeast Asian nation of Laos, have settled in the United States since the 1970s.
Minneapolis authorities released police and fire dispatch logs and transcripts of 911 calls, all related to the fatal shooting of Good. Firefighters found what appeared to be two gunshot wounds in her right chest, one in her left forearm and a possible gunshot wound on the left side of her head, records show.
“They shot her, like, cause she wouldn’t open her car door,” a caller said. “Point blank range in her car.”
Good, 37, was at the wheel of her Honda Pilot, which was partially blocking a street. Video showed an officer approached the SUV, demanded that she open the door and grabbed the handle.
Good began to pull forward and turned the vehicle's wheel to the right. Another ICE officer, Jonathan Ross, pulled his gun and fired at close range, jumping back as the SUV moved past him. DHS claims the agent shot Good in self-defense.
FBI Director Kash Patel said at least one person has been arrested for stealing property from an FBI vehicle in Minneapolis. The SUV was among government vehicles whose windows were broken Wednesday evening. Attorney General Pam Bondi said body armor and weapons were stolen.
The destruction occurred when agents were responding to a shooting during an immigration arrest. Trump subsequently said on social media that he would invoke the Insurrection Act if Minnesota officials don’t stop the “professional agitators and insurrectionists” there.
Minnesota’s attorney general responded by saying he would sue if the president acts.
Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Ed White and Corey Williams in Detroit; Graham Lee Brewer in Oklahoma City; Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Ben Finley in Washington contributed.
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Teyana Gibson Brown, right, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after federal immigration officers arrested Garrison Gibson, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Teyana Gibson Brown, second from left, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after federal immigration officers arrested Garrison Gibson, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Garrison Gibson is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Garrison Gibson becomes emotional as he is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A man is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A man becomes emotional as he is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal immigration officers prepare to enter a home to make an arrest after an officer used a battering ram to break down a door Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, including one wearing a 'NOT ICE' face covering, walk near their vehicles, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Richfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A person looks out of their vehicle as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk away, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Richfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
