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During the 2011 NFL season, Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings and DeMarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys were engaged in a fierce race to break Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record of 22.5 sacks. While both players would ultimately fall just short of surpassing that mark (22.0 and 19.5 sacks, respectively), this sack race was a microcosm of each player’s greatness as a pass rusher. For the better part of a decade each, Allen and Ware were among the most feared pass rushers in the NFL, wreaking havoc in the backfields of opposing offenses – given their almost perfectly overlapping playing days and similar career sack totals, it makes sense to line them up side-by-side and pose the question:
Who was better – Jared Allen or DeMarcus Ware?
The Beginning
Though neither player attended a marquee college football program, Allen and Ware were both studs for their respective schools (with Ware becoming a first-round draft pick) and made an immediate impact as pass rushers at the NFL level.
Though born in Texas, Allen grew up in California and was a high school football star, originally committing verbally to Washington. Unfortunately, after being accused of stealing yearbooks, he lost most of his football scholarships and instead attended Idaho State in the Big Sky Conference. At Idaho State, he was a 3x All-Big Sky selection and as a senior, was a Division I-AA First Team All-American and winner of the Buck Buchanan Award for most outstanding defensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, or the previous Division I-AA). As a result of his stellar collegiate career, Allen was drafted 126th overall in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs and put up 9.0 sacks and 31 total tackles as a rookie.
As for Ware, he starred in football, basketball, baseball, and track and field while growing up in Alabama; specifically for football, he played wide receiver on offense and linebacker on defense in high school, and would attend in-state Troy for his college ball (where he would play on the same defensive line as high school teammate and fellow future NFL star Osi Umenyiora). During his four seasons at Troy, Ware showed gradual improvement each year, eventually becoming a 2x All-Sun Belt Conference selection and both Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and a Hendricks Award finalist (given to the top defensive end in college football) as a senior. Subsequently, he was drafted 11th overall in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Cowboys and had a solid rookie year with 8.0 sacks, 58 total tackles, and 3 forced fumbles.
Career Comparison
For roughly a decade each from the mid-2000s to mid-2010s, Allen and Ware were perennial Pro Bowl/All-Pro performers who could be counted on for double-digit sacks annually and were good bets to sit at or near the top of the league’s sack charts.
As a member of the Chiefs, Allen quickly established himself as one of the league’s best pass rushers, tallying 11.0 sacks with 58 total tackles and a career-high 6 forced fumbles in 2005. Though he dipped to 7.5 sacks the next year, he would then have three straight Pro Bowl and All-Pro seasons, as well as seven straight years of double-digit sacks:
- 2007: led the NFL with 15.5 sacks and added 65 total tackles and 3 forced fumbles; however, after the season, he was traded to the Vikings for a first-rounder and two third-round picks in the 2008 NFL draft, plus a swap of sixth-round picks, and then signed the richest contract in league history for a defensive player
- 2008: 14.5 sacks, 54 total tackles, and 3 forced fumbles
- 2009: 14.5 sacks, 51 total tackles, and 5 forced fumbles; had a career-high 4.5 sacks in a game vs. the rival Green Bay Packers
Following another 11.0 sacks in 2010, Allen had his aforementioned career-year in 2011 with a league-high 22.0 sacks (just 0.5 sacks shy of Strahan’s single-season record), plus a career-high 66 tackles and 4 forced fumbles; not only was he a Pro Bowler and All-Pro once again, but Allen also placed second for Defensive Player of the Year to Terrell Suggs. From there, he would have one final Pro Bowl season in 2012 (12.0 sacks, 46 total tackles, and a forced fumble) and in his final year with the Vikings, still notched 11.5 sacks. As a free agent in 2014, Allen signed with the rival Chicago Bears, though he only played one full season with the team and managed just 5.5 sacks. During the 2015 season, he was traded to the Carolina Panthers for a sixth-round pick, but had just 2.0 sacks total and retired after the season at age 33, signing a one-day contract to retire as a Viking; fun fact – Allen is tied for the NFL career record with 4 safeties.
Along the same trajectory, Ware also quickly became a star, earning the first of seven straight Pro Bowl nods (and 9x overall) and seven double-digit sack seasons in 2006 with 11.5 sacks, 73 total tackles, 5 forced fumbles and the first return touchdown of his career. This was followed by three consecutive All-Pro seasons:
- 2007: 14.0 sacks, a career-high 84 total tackles, and 4 forced fumbles
- 2008: a league-high and career-best 20.0 sacks, 84 total tackles, and a career-high 6 forced fumbles; finished second to James Harrison for Defensive Player of the Year
- 2009: 11.0 sacks, 57 total tackles, and 5 forced fumbles
In 2010, Ware once again led the NFL with 15.5 sacks, adding 66 total tackles and 2 forced fumbles. Building on that, he was once again an All-Pro in the aforementioned 2011 season with 19.5 sacks (second to Allen), 58 total tackles, and 2 forced fumbles.
Ware’s final Pro Bowl season with the Cowboys came in 2012 with 11.5 sacks, but with the move from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 formation in 2013, he made the switch from outside linebacker to defensive end and had the worst season of his career with just 6.0 sacks. Upon being released by Dallas at season’s end, he immediately signed with the Denver Broncos and would form a fearsome pass-rushing duo with Von Miller. Over the next two seasons, Ware earned back-to-back Pro Bowls in 2014 (10.0 sacks) and 2015 (7.5 sacks in 11 games). In his final season in 2016, he posted 4.0 sacks before announcing his retirement at 34; having reached 100 career sacks faster than any other player in league history outside of Reggie White, Ware signed a one-day contract to retire as a Cowboy.
Overall, both Allen and Ware played a dozen NFL seasons and are separated by just one year (i.e. Allen played from 2004 to 2015, Ware from 2005 to 2016), though the former has nine additional games under his belt from better health. Nevertheless, Ware has the slight statistical advantage in most categories, from career sacks (138.5 vs. 136.0) to forced fumbles, solo tackles, and assisted tackles; both men racked up double-digit sacks 8x (including one season of 20+ sacks), though Ware has a slightly higher career sack rate (0.78 per game to 0.73 per game). Moreover, this also translated into more Pro Bowl selections (9x vs. 5x), though each player was a 4x All-Pro and finished as runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year in their best seasons. No doubt two of the premier pass rushers of the era, Allen and Ware will first become eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Regular Season Statistics
| Jared Allen | Player | DeMarcus Ware |
| 12 (2004-2015) | Seasons | 12 (2005-2016) |
| 187 | Games Played | 178 |
| 136.0 | Sacks | 138.5 |
| 32 | Forced Fumbles | 35 |
| 503 | Solo Tackles | 505 |
| 145 | Assisted Tackles | 152 |
| 5x | Pro Bowls | 9x |
| 4x | All-Pro | 4x |
| – | Super Bowls | 1x |
| – | Other Awards | – |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Though they were dominant in the regular season, Allen and Ware were for the most part unable to propel their respective teams to postseason success until facing off against each other in Super Bowl 50.
Both Allen and Ware made five career playoff trips across the various teams they played with, racking up 4.0 and 7.5 postseason sacks, respectively. During the 2015 season, the two veterans met in the aforementioned Super Bowl 50 as Allen’s Panthers, behind the play of league MVP Cam Newton, played Ware’s Broncos – in a 24-10 victory for the Broncos, Ware was dominant with 2.0 sacks and 5 total tackles, while his counterpart was quiet in a reserve role with a single tackle.
Playoff Statistics
| Jared Allen | Player | DeMarcus Ware |
| 7 | Games Played | 8 |
| 4.0 | Sacks | 7.5 |
| 3 | Forced Fumbles | 1 |
| 19 | Solo Tackles | 15 |
| 5 | Assisted Tackles | 8 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; while Allen become a rotational defensive lineman after leaving Minnesota and saw his production wane, Ware actually remained productive through his time with the Broncos. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams, of which Ware is on the Second Team for the 2000s as a linebacker), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Jared Allen | Player | DeMarcus Ware |
| 2004-2013 | Decade of Dominance | 2005-2012, 2014-2015 |
| 157 | Games Played | 155 |
| 128.5 | Sacks | 128.5 |
| 30 | Forced Fumbles | 35 |
| 446 | Solo Tackles | 468 |
| 113 | Assisted Tackles | 134 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
As close as their overall careers are, the decades of dominance for Allen and Ware are practically identical – same amount of sacks (128.5), as well as comparable forced fumbles and tackle numbers.
My Thoughts
Among the NFL’s history of elite pass rushers, I can scarcely think of two players who match up as evenly as Jared Allen and DeMarcus Ware – not only did their careers nearly overlap exactly, but their peak and career numbers are likewise almost identical. On one hand, Allen had the highest single-season sack total with 22.0 in 2011, but Ware was slightly more dominant in their shared five-year peak from 2007 to 2011 (80.0 sacks for Ware vs. 77.5 sacks for Allen), had the better decades of dominance, and overall, 2.5 more career sacks in fewer games played with similar tackle and forced turnover numbers. At the same time, Ware maintained his high level of play for just a little bit longer than his counterpart and when the two pass rushers met in Super Bowl 50, the former was still a high-impact player whereas the latter was merely a rotational player. Overall, in my view, they were both more complete players than contemporary pass rushers like Dwight Freeney, i.e. they were impossible to pass-block, but also stout against the run; in a historical context, I would place both Allen and Ware in that second tier of great pass rushers – top 25 all-time, but just outside of the top 10 and deserving of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
DeMarcus Ware
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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