The Washington Commanders were dealt a tough blow during the Week 6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday when All-Pro defensive tackle Jonathan Allen sustained a torn pec and will be out for the remainder of the 2024 NFL season.
"It was kind of a freak injury," Allen said during his weekly appearance Tuesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
"The play before I went down – I think it was the play before Derrick Henry scored a touchdown – I reached out to grab him and my arm went back and it just happened so quickly it was hard to really tell specifically what happened," he told the Junkies. "But I just caught my arm in a weird way and that was that."
He said: "It's unfortunate, but at the end of the day, it's part of football."
Allen said he wasn't in a lot of pain when he got to the sideline, but felt that he didn't have a lot of power in his arm. Adding, "I was kinda hopeful that it would only be a week or two, but after the MRI it kinda cleared everything up for us."
Allen was calling in while he was on his way to the hospital to undergo surgery to repair the injury on Tuesday morning.
For the defensive tackle it will be the fifth time he goes under the knife in his playing career: "I had two shoulders, a back, a knee and this."
"What I always tell people is," Allen said about having another surgery, "is people only see the good parts of playing in the league, and the money and the fame and the title that comes with it, but there's a lot of other things that come with this life.
"One of the things I always tell people is, if you're motivated by money, eventually you're gonna look at it and say it's not worth it. Money doesn't really motivate me, I'm gonna be just as hungry now as I was coming back from an injury my rookie year and I'm looking forward to it. Does it suck? Yeah, but everybody has a job and everyone has a part of that job that sucks. This just happens to be my part of it."
Allen, drafted in 2017 – the final year of Kirk Cousins' time – has been through the full ups and downs of the quarterback experience in Washington, it is hard that his season is ended after just six games of Jayden Daniels' promising rookie season.
"It unfortunate, but God has a plan and his plan is never wrong and when you're in the midst of it, it's easy to 'woe is me' and have everybody feel bad for you, but at the end of the day he has a plan that I'm gonna be faithful to and see it through," he said. "And trust me, the good thing about our situation is, as long as we have Jayden we have a chance.
"So, I highly doubt that this is the only year that we're gonna have the opportunity to play some good football late in the season. And I'm looking forward to coming back stronger than ever."
And in the 'next man up' world of the NFL, the Junkies asked if Johnny Newton, the Commanders' second-round draft pick this year, is ready to step up for an expanded role with Allen sidelined.
"It's hard to say if somebody's ready or not because you don't know until they get out there," he said. "But what I can say is, I can't think of a better guy to step into the situation: A young guy with a lot to prove and the work ethic to match it.
"I'm a big fan and I talked to him and I'm excited to see what he's able to do with more opportunity and being the guy. And I'm gonna be root for him and I'm still gonna be around to help out any way I can. And I'm looking forward to seeing how he grows as a player in the next year."
Allen added that Daron Payne is going to be leading the charge at the DT position, but he has a lot of confidence in Phidarian Mathis, Newton and Sheldon Day.