Eric Allen shares his emotions on being named Class of 2025 inductee for Pro Football Hall of Fame
Eric Allen has been at peace with his NFL career for a while now.
He left it all on the field for 14 seasons, and he personally doesn’t feel there’s much more that can validate what he did on the gridiron. His accomplishments speak for themselves – six Pro Bowl selections, 54 career interceptions and eight interceptions returned for touchdowns. Many of his counterparts with similar statistics have already been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Ultimately, it’s about what you do on the football field,” Allen told media at NFL Honors on Thursday night. “They’re not going to change what it takes to get in here, and my numbers stack up with anybody who’s in there. When you become a one of one, like the only guy with a certain amount of interceptions and touchdowns who’s not in there, obviously there’s going to be a time when I need to get in there.”
Twenty-four years after retiring, his former college teammate Randall McDaniel came to his doorstep to welcome him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as he is officially one of four inductees for the Class of 2025.
“Time and light, eventually the truth is going to be there,” Allen said. “We know so much about so many things because history, because we have time to massage it. And that’s an important aspect of it. The validation part, it didn’t validate me. … But what it did validate was all those fans and the family and friends who continued to beat the door down after games like, ‘EA is the best! EA is the best!’ Now they get a chance [to say] like, ‘I told you so’ and kind of pump up a little bit.”
With his induction into the Hall of Fame this August, it will be the icing on what was a historic career for the cornerback. However, for Allen, it’s more than just a personal accomplishment. It’s a representation of all the people in his life that helped get him to Canton, Ohio.
“When you get that call, you start to reminisce about all those folks who poured into you to lay that foundation and to understand that all of those folks meant so much to the end of the journey in this part of my life,” he said. “I’m just real excited. The moment was perfect and I understand the recognition as far as being a member of the Hall of Fame. You’re one of the best that ever [did] it.”
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