EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — For the second straight week, a member of the Minnesota Vikings kicked off the weekly release of the NFL's Top 100 players.
Defensive end Jared Allen fell precipitously to No. 60 in the annual rankings of the NFL Network's Top 100 list of players, as chosen by votes of players in the league. Ten players' names are released weekly leading up to the top 10. Linebacker Chad Greenway was named No. 70 on the list last week.
For Allen, it's a drop from No. 13 last year, coming off his 22-sack season in 2011 when he was a half-sack shy of reaching Michael Strahan's single-season record.
Dealing with injuries for much of last season, Allen played all 16 games and was slowed to 45 tackles and 12 sacks. He added one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Since being acquired in a 2008 trade with the Kansas City Chiefs, Allen has 74 sacks in five seasons with Minnesota and he leads the NFL since his rookie season with 117 sacks. He is second place in NFL history for most sacks in his first nine seasons, trailing only Reggie White's 137 sacks.
Allen enters the final season of his current contract with the Vikings, which is scheduled to pay him $14.28 million this season.
Minnesota had only two players on the list last season — Allen and running back Adrian Peterson. Allen is the third player from the Vikings roster last season to appear on the list. Receiver Percy Harvin, traded to the Seattle Seahawks in March, was No. 90 on the list.
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