If you saw anything on Twitter after Sunday’s loss to Miami, you probably saw Jonathan Allen, asked about the Commanders building character over the final weeks of the season, saying, ‘I want to win; I’ve been through seven years of this, my character is built enough.’
Not quite his ‘pissed off’ rant from earlier in the year, but indeed, when Allen joined the Junkies as he does every Monday presented by MainStreet Bank – Cheer local. Bank local. Put our team in your office. – Eric Bickel asked him flat out if he ever thought it might be better to not be a Commander for life and play elsewhere…and his quick answer was damning for the organization as a whole.”
“One thousand percent. I mean, I’d be lying if i said I didn’t. I play this game to win, and I would love to win here for sure, but I want to win first and foremost,” Allen said. “That’s always going to be at the front and center of my mind and everything I’m going to be doing in my career is going to make sure I’ll have an opportunity to win.”
EB further asked if that’s something Allen will talk to his agent about this offseason, as he gets set to enter the third year of his four-year extension, and…yeah.
“If that’s what it takes, maybe – but I'm not gonna sit here and talk about possibilities in the future,” Allen said. “I'm gonna focus on these next four games, do what I can to help this team win and then we'll evaluate things after the season. I wanna win, and I genuinely believe that we can do it here, but again, I gotta sit down after the season and make the decision that's best for me and my family. By no means am I saying I’m leaving, but you have to consider things.”
Allen was part of a dominant team at Stone Bridge High in Ashburn and then 51-6 with a Natty and three CFP appearances at Alabama, so winning is in his blood – but as the Junkies pointed out, he did make the decision to sign an extension and is now watching outer former Commanders succeed elsewhere.
“I’m not jealous because it was my decision to sign back here, so I don't have buyers’ remorse,” Allen said. “I'm a firm believer of when you make a decision, you make it and you don't look back, you move forward. And I mean, I’ve made two Pro Bowls with this team and signed the contract of my dreams, so to say I'm jealous would be a little bit silly on my part because I've been truly blessed in this league. But, I do want to win, and everything I'm doing for me and my family is gonna be to try to win.”
All that said, though, it looks like the Commanders are going to clean house and Allen would be on his third regime in eight years if so…and he was blunt in saying that he wants no part of another rebuild.
“I’m not in the business of going through another rebuild, but again, who knows what the future holds?” Allen said. “Only God knows and I trust him. And again, I'm gonna make the decision that's best for me and my family, and right now that's doing everything I can to help this team win and finish these next four games all strong.”
To that end, there is a lot of frustration in the locker room as a whole, but everyone’s goal is still the same.
“I might have vented a little more than others, but I'm not gonna say I'm more frustrated than any other guy on this team – we're all equally frustrated because we all want to win,” Allen said. “I absolutely love this locker room and I think we have a bunch of really great personalities and guys who wanna do the right thing and are trying to do the right thing; it’s the NFL, we’re just not getting it done. But I'm not gonna say that I'm more frustrated than anybody else because we're all frustrated. We all want to win. Nobody wants to go out there and put a performance like that out there.”
Take a listen to Allen’s entire segment above, where he goes into the differences with Ron Rivera calling the defense, his thoughts on his alma mater making the CFP, his bye week plans, thoughts on Sam Howell, and more!