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Jonathan Allen loves his two position coaches and likes being coached by them.
Allen sat down for a chat last week with Julie Donaldson, Senior Vice President of Media and Content. Allen only 28, is now the second-longest tenured Commander, as only punter Tress Way has worn the Burgundy and Gold longer.
Donaldson opened by asking what Allen has learned since coming to the NFL/Washington in 2017. Allen responded he has learned he needs to work smarter, not merely harder. Entering his seventh NFL season, Allen said he is starting to notice he takes longer to recover than he did seven years ago. He and Donaldson enjoyed a chuckle as Allen expressed he has a few gray hairs now too.
Allen divulged that assistant defensive line coach “Ryan Kerrigan taught former Washington defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis how to take care of his body. Matt passed that information down to me. So, every day I do Ryan Kerrigan’s pre-practice, pre-game routine, and it works for me.”
Jonathan Allen is ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/mqku0X3072
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 20, 2022
Continuing to speak regarding Kerrigan, “He is such a critical tool. He’s a quieter guy, but he knows what he is talking about. I mean, 95.5 sacks in the NFL? Anybody would love to have that career. It’s something that I really try to tell the young guys to take advantage of. He’s not super boastful; he’s super reserved. In some aspects, you would never know, but he is truly one of the best pass rushers in the game. Try to use him as much as you can. He can teach a lot of guys a lot of things.”
Defensive line coach Jeff Zgonina is someone Allen respects as well. “He knows football. He knows how to coach it and how to play it. He’s energetic for sure. We love playing for him. We love having him.”
Here is the link to watch the entire interview.