Glad to Be Back : Allen Breaks His Holdout on Raiders

Marcus Allen’s long, silent holdout ended this morning. He walked in, told Raiders Coach Mike Shanahan that he was glad to be back and was sent out to take his physical examination.

Allen will not dress for today’s exhibition against the Bears, but he’s scheduled to play in next week’s opener against the Chargers.

It was not a negotiated settlement. Al Davis stuck to his no-talk posture throughout the five-week absence. Allen will play for the $1.1 million due him on this, the option year on his three-year contract.

Allen reportedly wanted something more in line with the $1.356 million Bo Jackson will get, for playing half a season. A friend of Allen’s said, however, that Allen “just wanted to be shown some respect.”

Said Allen today: “The reasons for the holdout are personal. I don’t want to elaborate on them. I just felt it was time to go back to work.”

Allen’s salary puts him second in the league only to Eric Dickerson among running backs. Of Jackson’s total, $996,000 is paid in deferred bonuses.

Allen has been in five Pro Bowls and is the Raiders’ all-time leader in rushing and touchdowns. He led the league in 1985 with 1,759 yards and was named Most Valuable Player by Associated Press, the Sporting News and the Professional Football Writers Assn.

He had a string of 11 100-yard games that stretched into the third game of the ’86 season, when he sustained an ankle injury against the Giants. His rushes dropped by one-third and his season total dropped 1,000 yards to 759.

Beset by more injuries in ‘87-88, his rushing totals stayed relatively low, 754 and 831 yards, respectively. He maintained his value by playing hurt (he went most of last season with a cast on his broken left wrist) and by moving gracefully to fullback to accommodate Jackson. Allen’s teammates have voted him the team’s most valuable player in four of the last five seasons.