Former Vikings defensive end Jared Allen will join ESPN2’s ManningCast during Monday night’s wild-card game between the Vikings and the Rams.
Jared Allen will join ESPN2’s ManningCast for Vikings-Rams wild-card playoff game
The former Vikings defensive end will join Peyton Manning and Eli Manning during the third quarter of Monday night’s game. It’s the second time a Vikings game will be on the show.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 10, 2025 at 5:00PM
He’ll spend the entirety of the third quarter chatting with Peyton Manning and Eli Manning on the telecast. The ex-NFL quarterback brothers have just finished their fourth regular season doing the telecast, which airs simultaneously to ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” games.
Allen is a Vikings Ring of Honor member and a 2025 finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He played 12 seasons in the NFL, spending the 2008-2013 seasons with the Vikings.
His 136 sacks are 12th on the career list. Allen also had 228 quarterback hits.
The Vikings have played in a game with a Manning Cast once before, in Week 7 of the 2023 season, when they beat the 49ers 22-17 at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Bill Belichick, former Patriots head coach now in the same role at the University of North Carolina, will be on the telecast for the first half, as he has all season. A fourth-quarter guest has not been revealed.
This is the first Manning Cast since Week 14, when the Mannings were joined by singer John Legend and commentator Cris Collinsworth for Bengals at Cowboys. The telecast does not air every week of the season.
The NFL announced Thursday night that Monday’s game will move from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, due to ongoing wildfires affecting Los Angeles county.
Kickoff is still at 7 p.m. Central time, and the regular game broadcast will air on ABC and ESPN.
Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson and long snapper Andrew DePaola earned first-team All-Pro honors for the second time in three seasons while edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel is a second-team All-Pro.
