Rams Super Bowl Champion Retires

He's got his health and he's got his wealth, former Los Angeles Rams starting center and Super Bowl LVI champion Brian Allen has announced his retirement from the NFL. Drafted out of Michigan State, the former Spartan was selected in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, spending six years with the organization.

Allen inherited the starting job after the Rams moved on from John Sullivan, playing 50 games for the organization, starting 32 of them including Super Bowl LVI.

Unfortunately, Allen would suffer injuries in the 2022 season that would play a large part in the premature end of his career. However, it's not all bad news as he did sign a three-year, $24 million extension with the team right after their victory over the Bengals.

For the large part of the McVay era, Allen was a full participant for the majority of the team's glorious moments. While winning the Super Bowl at the Rams' home stadium remains the highlight of his career, he helped guide the Rams to an appearance in Super Bowl LIII and was critical in several playoff wins, including the 2022 playoff run, the Rams' 2021 Wild Card win in Seattle, the Rams 2019 NFC Championship win in New Orleans and more incredible moments.

Allen was also the first player in the NFL diagnosed with COVID, being a part of one of the wackiest moments in both NFL and human history.

Fox Sports' Jay Glazer first broke the story.

"I couldn't smell anything,'" Allen told Glazer Wednesday morning. "'I lost all sense of smell to the point where I had smelling salts here, I cracked them open, put them to my nose and nothing happened. All I could feel was texture in my mouth – literally, it was the only sense I had. Then I got periodic sore throats. I got really fatigued, my throat would start burning, everything felt different than every other flu I've had."

Rams head coach Sean McVay told Glazer he talked to Allen yesterday and that Allen is "feeling good, he's healthy and he's on the road to recovery." Once Allen tested positive, McVay said the team shut down its facility immediately.

"He (Allen) did a great job of letting us know right away so we could be timely in our response in making sure we didn't expose anybody else to that," McVay said.

While some may be asking why would Rams On SI include this, I believe it exemplifies the unselfish character of Allen. Despite the stigma around the pandemic and the fact no other player had come forward with concerns before Allen, Allen stepped up and did the right thing to protect his teammates in the same manner he did on the football field.

Happy trails Brian. Enjoy retirement legend.

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