Asher Allen - DB - Vikings

Vikings CB Asher Allen has retired from football.

Coach Leslie Frazier made the announcement after Wednesday's OTA practice. Frazier insisted the retirement wasn't medical-related, but it's worth noting that Allen suffered a concussion late last season and another in November of 2010. A third-round pick out of Georgia in 2009, Allen's career ends after just three seasons and 21 career starts. He recorded four career interceptions.
Source: Jeremy Fowler on Twitter

I have a hard time seeing how it's not health related but on the flip side I can't imagine why the team would cover something like that up.

I've read that he lost his passion for the game. Good for him for retiring if that's the case. He could have remained and collected checks while giving a half-hearted effort but instead he stepped out with some integrity.

Overall bad pick, but he was showing some signs of being a decent depth guy. One thing I won't miss is his constant complaining to the refs that there was offensive pass interference whenever his assignment caught the ball (which happened a lot).

While it's not as detrimental as when Winfield is out, it is a shot to our depth, which was already a concern. Hopefully now this gives a few of the younger guys a chance. To be honest, there probably isn't a huge difference between Asher and, say, Carr or Bowman. We'll probably be okay.

Too bad, but here's wishing him well in the future.

Allen retired because he recently became one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I believe he began seriously studying and/or was baptized not long after being drafted. His plan was to fulfill his obligation to the Vikings by playing his contract out, but apparently something caused him to move his plans up. Concussions maybe.

Source/link?

Well, that's one more gone from the 2009 team. How many does that leave?

Some of my golf buddies know his family. I live in Georgia.

If you need a third-party source, there's this: http://www.atlantamagazineweddings.com/ ... mID=119934

Married in a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in '11.

I'm shocked. I wonder if its injury related or just like a Glen Coffee situation. According to Zulgad he told the team his decision a few weeks ago.

He was coming into his own as a Nickle/Dime guy last year after looking terrible in 09/10.

I wish him the best in the future and respect his decision, but this is no extremely loss for the Vikes. I'm glad the signed Carr and Bowman. While older they're probably just as good as Allen.

Our CB Depth Chart right:

Winfield
Cook
Robinson
Battle for final 2 or 3 spots: Carr, Bowman, Burton, Sherels, Bobby Felder, Reggie Jones, Nick Taylor(the PG).

Do you know why did he wait until the OTA's started to announce it? Was it because he intended to play out the rookie contract and then realized he wasn't going to be able to do it due to physical concerns, or he just realized he no longer had a passion for football?

Unfortunately I don't know that much about it. I just remember being told shortly after he was drafted that he was trying to become a more active Witness and would likely be retiring once his rookie contract ran. I don't know what made him decide to do it a year early.

I can only speculate that the concussions may have been why. I would also have to imagine that it's hard to have your heart in the game if you're already planning your retirement. And if your hearts not in it 100%, those concussions are gonna weigh all the more heavily on your mind.

But that's all speculation. The only thing I know for certain is that there was talk shortly after him entering the league that he was planning to retire for religious reasons. Beyond that, I don't know. How genuine his faith is, I don't know that either. I don't know the guy personally.

Thanks for that perspective. It takes a lot for a guy to walk away from the money and notoriety of the pro game, not to mention the camaraderie. Allen was also in line for a significant role this season, so that must have made the decision even more difficult.

Whatever the reason, I wish the best for the guy.

Sherels should not be on the team

Nick Taylor will make the team, mark my words.

What makes you say that? At 5' 10" 165 lbs I'd say he's a loooooong shot to make the team. As I understand, he played only basketball at Florida International and spent last season playing some arena football.

Always good to make these types of predictions because if you're right, you can bump this thread in a couple months. If you're wrong, nobody will remember this thread by training camp.

Just giving you a hard time, all in good fun. (Corey Parades will make the team and start by week 5!) Ahem, anyway, Taylor will have a tough time making the squad as he would need to contribute on special teams to secure a spot. With both Robinson and Wright looking like potential return men, I don't really see a place for him.

Yeah, point guards thrive as NFL Db's...

Back to Asher Allen, it just seems to me that the concussion might have had something to do with his decision to retire.

Does anyone know if he had any concussions when he played for Georgia?

On facebook i saw a headline "vikings allen retires" and almost coughed up my lunch lol

Good for him. Whether his reason is religious or for his health, he is thinking about the long term.

Could have been the coaching staff as well. If he told them he was going to play out his deal then retire a couple weeks ago, then he shows up and the coaches could see he wasn't all in, they may have told him that he'd be better to retire now than try to play when he's not "all in".

We're gonna start seeing this more and more. The mountain of lawsuits and all the fuss over concussions is so prevalent right now that a lot of young guys are going to start deciding that being healthy past fifty years old and being able to walk/think/not kill yourself is more important than maybe having a shot at massive amounts of cash. Maybe in the coming years, the NFL is going to see a "talent" drain, talent being all the low-mid level guys who serve as depth and aren't among the elite high paid superstars (and also vastly outnumber the superstars). Unless the payscale for those players goes up significantly, I could see a big shift happening in the mindsets of those players. Why risk severe health problems down the road if you're not being compensated with obscene sums of money? Maybe a consequence of all this is inevitable contraction of the league, because there just won't be as many bodies to fill up all those rosters.

I couldn't disagree more! Sure some guys have a back up plan or another means but very very few would make the kind of money they do playing football doing anything else. Even if you "only" make 100k a year I would bet 99.9% of those players wouldn't even come close to that doing "something else." The harsh reality for a lot of players is that they can either go flip burgers for minimum wage or put their body on the line.

I think asher is the exception, someone who doesn't seem to care about making the money so much as pursuing other things it seems.

Alright this may have not been the right thread for this. I'm sure concussions factored into his decision though.

But as far as most guys having no shot at making great money outside of the NFL, I'll say that money isn't the prime motivator for every person. For a majority I think it is, but some guys might prefer to live a modest life and be healthy into their 70s.

Heh, another factor is how many kids these guys have. If we keep seeing players enter the league that already have 3-5 kids, then ya those guys might be motivated to stay and make the big bucks.

With all the guys we drafted and picked up undrafted at his spot he might not have even made the
roster to be honest.

I'm pretty sure he woulda made the team unless he had an atrocious camp.

He did the team a favor if had other interests than football and i respect that.

Now the rookies will have more reps and coaches time to learn .

I wish him good luck and fortune in what he seeks.

Rookies? The Vikings only drafted one cornerback: Josh Robinson in the third round. Robert Blanton will almost certainly play safety. Any of the undrafted CB free agents they've picked up are distant long shots.

The biggest thing this affects, with the roster as it stands now, is depth and who might be the nickle and dime cornerbacks. The Vikings have exactly two cornerbacks that they can't afford to lose, and it remains to be seen how much one of them has left.

we also signed several secondary players that are undrafted players..

not to mention other players that still might get cut from other teams rosters

we also could pick a player that is free agent and unsigned from last year.