Jared Allen is never going to end up on the cover of GQ. Leave the magazine covers to the pretty-boy quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Tony Romo.

But it was that same 6-6, 270-pound, scruffy defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings who recently grabbed the spotlight for … of all things … his hair.  There’s an amazing interview above with Allen talking about his mullet and the lifestyle it represents. Apparently, it involves extra mayonnaise. Who knew?

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Athletes have been setting hairstyle trends since, well, probably the first Olympics, but it’s not usually the football players. After all, their heads and much of their faces are covered for most of the game. More recently, though, there have been hair-raising highlights from the gridiron.

Allen’s mullet isn’t that noticeable when he’s got his helmet on, but there’s no way you can miss Troy Polamalu’s dreadlocks. With hair a couple inches shy of Rapunzel’s cascading down his back, obscuring his name and part of the number on his Pittsburgh Steelers jersey, you’d notice Polamalu even if he wasn’t one of most devastating safeties in the NFL. Head and Shoulders did notice, and signed him as a spokesman.

Having the look, though, sometimes comes with a cost, whether it’s the NFL or college ball. Watch this clip of Rutgers running back Jourdan Brooks getting tackled in a 2008 game when one of his dreadlocks was actually ripped from his head and is lying on the field after the play. Think of the years and money invested into weaving and growing that hair; gone is less than 10 seconds. Weave or no weave – that had to hurt.

That’s one of the reasons you don’t see a lot of offensive players with hair hanging out:  because follicles are fair game when it comes to tackling.  In fact, because more players are wearing their hair longer, the NFL had to clarify the rules to include tackling by hair; once a player is down, you have to let go or it’s a penalty, as explained in this video of a Polamalu being tackled.

So yes, you can be brought down by your ‘do, but the women reading this have known that for a long time.