Jared Allen: I've never wanted to punch Jay Cutler or any of my quarterbacks

Lance Briggs is no longer Jay Cutler’s teammate, so telling the world he wanted the punch the Bears quarterback wasn’t too big a deal.

Jared Allen is still Cutler’s teammate, so he can’t in good conscience admit to wanting to punch him. Either that or Allen’s a genuinely nice guy who doesn’t want to punch quarterbacks.

Allen told Dan Patrick on Friday that he’s never once wanted to punch Cutler — or any of the quarterbacks with whom he’s played.

“I’ve been fortunate to play with cool quarterbacks,” Allen said to a skeptical Patrick. “I’m serous. I typically don’t let it get to that point. I had Trent Green and Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle in Kansas City. Tavaris Jackson and Gus Frerotte and then you know Brett [Favre] and [Matt] Cassel, and we had some cool guys. … I probably wanted to punch more O-linemen in my day than quarterbacks.”

Allen then went to bat for Cutler:

“I have no problem with Jay,” he said. “I know a lot of people seem to. I came to the Bears and I’ve been on the losing end of what that guy can do. I know he’s very capable. I honestly believe that with this new offense … we have an opportunity to do some great things. ”

Here’s the full interview, which includes Allen’s thoughts on switching from defensive end to linebacker and DeflateGate: