Released by the Washington Commanders after eight seasons, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen has found a new spot in the NFL.

The Minnesota Vikings are signing the two-time Pro Bowler, the NFL team announced on Tuesday, after Allen visited the club’s facility on Monday. Allen is moving to Minnesota after reaching agreement on a three-year, $60 million contract, the Minnesota Star Tribune, NFL Network and ESPN reported.

The Commanders gave Allen permission to seek a trade in February before releasing him on Friday. With Allen entering the final season of a four-year, $72 million contract extension, his release sliced $16.471 million off Washington’s salary-cap obligations for the 2025 season.

Allen was due to make $15.5 million during the 2025 campaign.

In 2024, Allen missed nine games because of a torn pectoral muscle sustained on Oct. 13. The injury was thought to be season-ending, but Allen made it back to the field to start all three of the Commanders’ playoff contests as Washington reached the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 1991.

At Alabama, Allen swept the national Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2016 by winning the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award. He also won the SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award, the Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation’s best lineman and the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation’s best defensive end. Allen was a unanimous All-American in 2016, when he earned All-SEC selection for third season in a row.

On Monday, Minnesota reached a contract agreement with free-agent center Ryan Kelly, an Alabama teammate of Allen’s. Kelly had spent his entire nine-season NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts and is a four-time Pro Bowl selection.

Allen joined Washington as the 17th selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. A Pro Bowl selection in 2021 and 2022, Allen ranks second in franchise history in tackles for loss and quarterback hits and 10th in sacks.

The Vikings use a base defense with three defensive linemen, a scheme that would put Allen at defensive end instead of at defensive tackle as he was in Washington’s 4-3 alignment. Allen played in a 3-4 system in the first three seasons of his career.

Minnesota’s starting defensive ends in 2024 were Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery. Bullard had one sack, seven tackles for loss and three quarterback hits and Tillery had no sacks, one tackle for loss and three quarterback hits in 2024. Although he played in only eight regular-season games, Allen had three sacks, three tackles for loss and seven quarterback hits, with another tackle for loss and two more quarterback hits in the playoffs.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.