New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen and his wife are donating $100,000 to the local Second Harvest Food Bank after a fine of the same monetary value was rescinded by the NFL. The league had fined Allen after accusing Saints defensive end Cam Jordan of faking an injury, but the penalty was wiped away after the Saints won an appeal.
After Jordan suffered a foot injury in the fourth quarter of a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the league felt that the Saints’ longtime star pass rusher had taken a dive in order to stop the clock. As part of a crackdown on that tactic, the NFL fined the Saints organization $350,000 and both Jordan and co-defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen $50,000 each in addition to Allen.
Although the successful appeal prevented Allen from having to pay that fine, the money will now go towards a worthy cause supported by his wife Alisson.
“We’re blessed to be able to have a certain level of lifestyle and a certain level of comfort being employed in the NFL,” Allen told the Saints’ official website. “And there’s nothing that makes you feel better about yourself than trying to do something to help out your community.
“We have such a tight-knit group between our team and this city, and any time you feel like you can help out those in need in your community, you want to be able to do that.”
Allen and his family have been part of the community in New Orleans since 2015, when Allen was brought in as a senior defensive assistant and later defensive coordinator under Sean Payton. Allen was promoted to head coach in 2022 after Payton stepped down to take a sabbatical in television.