New Bengals DT Jonathan Allen Cites Former Cincinnati Legend as His Inspiration

CINCINNATI – With the Cincinnati Bengals looking to upgrade their defensive line the last two offseasons, there has been a lot of connecting the dots to guys who played with position coach Jerry Montgomery during his time in Green Bay.

The signing of T.J. Slaton last March solidified one reunion.

And the addition of Jonathan Allen today marks another, even though the 10-year veteran never played for the Packers.

Allen’s relationship with Montgomery goes back 15 years to when he was at Stone Bridge High School in Virginia.

Montgomery was trying to recruit him to play for Michigan, but Allen picked Alabama instead, where he went on to become a unanimous All-American while ranking second on the school’s all-time sack before becoming a first-round pick of the Washington Commanders in 2017.

Even though Montgomery didn’t land his prized recruit, the two have remained close ever since.

“He coached me at the Pro Bowl,” Allen said, referring to his second on back-to-back selections in 2022.

“Obviously he was in Green Bay for a long time, so after every game, me and him would always connect,” Allen added. “So he’s definitely a guy I think fondly of.”

The relationship with Montgomery was all a part of the fit that Allen said lured to the Bengals, who gave him a two-year, $28 million contract that will make him the team’s seventh-high paid player in 2026.

Montgomery’s coaching style – “no-nonsense,” Allen called it – and defensive coordinator Al Golden’s scheme were a big part of the fit.

But so, too, was what Allen saw in the Bengals offense. And specifically in quarterback Joe Burrow.

“Having the ability to play with a guy like Joe Burrow and that offense,” Allen began. “You know they’re gonna put points up, you know we’re gonna be playing with the lead. So allowing us as a defense and defensive line to get after the quarterback was definitely enticing.”

Since entering the league in 2017, Allen has played 6,001 defensive snaps.

That ranks 12th among defensive linemen during that span.

If you take away his rookie year, when he played just five games, and the 2024 season, when a torn pectoral muscle forced him to miss 10 games, Allen has averaged 792 snaps per season.

He said he’s always prided himself on being a three-down player in a league where rotation and load management is prevalent on the defensive line.

Allen credits a former Bengals defensive lineman as his inspiration for playing so many snaps – Geno Atkins.

New Bengals DT Jonathan Allen Cites Geno Atkins as His Inspiration

“Geno Atkins is a guy I’ve always liked to look to just because he’s not the biggest guy, and I think for me, it’s about the ability to play all three downs,” Allen said. “That’s something I’ve always prided myself on, being able to stop the run on first down and second down and affect the quarterback on third down.”

Allen has missed just 14 starts since his rookie season, with 10 of those coming in 2024 when he tore his pectoral muscle.

Initially, doctors told him it would be season ending. But once they performed the surgery, they found scar tissue, suggesting it was an older injury. They told him there was an outside chance he could come back.

That’s all Allen needed to hear.

He got back on the field for the season finale and played in all of the Commanders’ playoff games, recording 10 pressures with a 15.3 percent win rate.

He had only appeared in one playoff game to that point, and the run to the NFC Championship Game was everything he dreamed it would be.

Allen is 31 and doesn’t know how many more chances he’ll get.

But he sees 2026 with the Bengals as being one.

“Cincinnati’s not too far removed from the Super Bowl, and with a guy like Joe Burrow on that offense and the things we're going to be able to do on defense, it's going to be an exciting year,” he said. “And I’m looking forward to see what we can do.”