While his former team is playing in the Super Bowl, the Commanders’ offensive lineman has found what he came looking for in Washington.
WASHINGTON — Washington Commanders’ starting left guard Nick Allegretti won three championships in his first five NFL seasons after being drafted in the seventh Round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.
As much as those championships mean to him, after the last one–Super Bowl LVIII in 2023–Allegretti realized he had an opportunity to do something most players don’t get to, and it led him straight to the Commanders.
OFFSEASON DILEMMA
In a conversation with WUSA9, Allegretti shared that he didn’t know until after that Super Bowl victory that he’d be leaving the Chiefs but eventually came to realize, “I had to take advantage of an opportunity and knew that that was probably going to provide some options.
After starting the final two 2023 postseason games in relief of injured Kansas City guard Joe Thuney, Allegretti attracted plenty of attention in the offseason. The story that he’d played more than two-quarters of that Super Bowl with a torn UCL became a thing of legend and drew audiences to his level of toughness while playing on a championship squad. It’s the kind of thing that any player would dream of being able to capitalize on.
When the time came, it wasn’t just the Commanders but several teams that came at him strong with offers. And then there was the Chiefs, who wanted him back to fill the same role he’d held in three title runs. So, he had a choice to make: stay in his current role and be all but guaranteed to continue winning in the place his family had made a second home, or leave and find a new home where he could earn a starting job and play every game because he had proven he was the best man for the job.
Clearly, he made the second choice, something he admits was difficult but necessary.
“I could have stayed there in that role and loved that team, loved that organization. But my wife and I knew the goals that we had for my career, and I wanted to start a full season so badly. That was something that meant a lot to me, not just being a starter day one, which was a big deal as well, but starting all 17 games plus in playoff games, that's a hard thing to do.”
THE POWER OF LOVE
With his determination driving him, Allegretti’s wife Christina’s support of the decision to move the family away from their home away from home–with one-year-old twins in tow–put it over the top.
“It was tough because we had just finally gotten into a rhythm. We had two newborn twins, had just finally gotten comfortable, and then we had to fully move out again back to Chicago, and then we knew we had to find another place to live in another city,” Allegretti shared. “(Washington) made sense. And to have my wife fully on board that meant a ton. I couldn't do it without her…and I am so proud of her and us and what we've been able to accomplish so far.”
Make no mistake about it, without his wife’s blessing and willingness to put up with all that comes along with moving a family across the country when the option to stay put is in play, Allegretti is likely still in Kansas City playing a role he played so well, but not completely fulfilling his competitive potential.
“The NFL has blessed our family in so many ways, but there are a lot of unseen challenges that often fall solely on my wife to handle while I’m gone,” says Allegretti. “Christina is the rock of our family and my best friend. I would not be the father, teammate, or player I am without her.”
MOVING FOUR-WARD
At this point in the story, you’d probably expect Allegretti to be lured away by a playoff team that fell just short of either beating the Chiefs or competing against them in the Super Bowl. Of course, that’s not what happened at all.
Making the stress of leaving Kansas City even heavier was the fact Allegretti was doing it to join a four-win team that very much looked out of control while he and his previous teammates were battling their way to back-to-back titles.
It happened because, while there are plenty of believers in the franchise today, he was one of the first.
“(On) the first day of the (free agency) window, they were aggressive,” Allegretti says of the Commanders. “Sent an offer about as soon as they could, and it was evident with the offer that it was real. …(I) realized that this team wanted me. There was an opportunity to start. There's no reason to go look anywhere else. I called Kansas City to let 'em know.”
Speaking to Washington head coach Dan Quinn for the first time, Allegretti says the team’s direction and spirit just clicked with him. He loved the way Quinn talked about the ball, respecting the game, and playing it the way it is supposed to be played.
Most of all, Allegretti loved the idea that he wasn’t being handed a starting job–that’s never what he wanted–but was coming in with the opportunity to earn all 17 regular season stars plus several postseason games, and all of the physical tax that comes with them.
Clearly, buy-in and a strong support system are big to the lineman. And he also knows that Quinn and general manager Adam Peters took a chance on him as well. That fact, the mutual agreement to roll the dice on each other, isn’t lost on him, but it didn’t take long for Allegretti to realize he’d made the right decision.
When he stepped on the field against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 as the Commanders’ starting left guard, he already knew it.
Before that day came, from the way the team practiced, prepared, recovered, and the standard that the players were held to and held themselves to, he knew the Allegrettis were where they belonged.
LOOKING BACK
Allegretti was part of a great team for five years with the Chiefs, and the city turned into a second home for him and his family. That team is about to compete for a third-straight Super Bowl win for the franchise, something that would be a first in NFL history.
He says he’s going to watch the game. He has friends there and absolutely no hard feelings or regrets. Because he also has something he always wanted in his family’s third home. Something he believed he and his family always knew he had the ability to earn: a starting job in the NFL.
Regardless of which team he’s cheering for–something he did not specify with WUSA9, for the record–Allegretti is still part of two great teams this weekend and moving forward.
Those great teams, as Quinn always says, are made up of great teammates.
As soon as Super Bowl LIX comes to a close the NFL will crown a champion and the entire league will reset to 0-0. Meanwhile, both of Allegretti’s teams have already begun preparations to make sure they’re set for success when it comes.
