CANTON, Ohio — When new Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Jared Allen talks about his time with the Carolina Panthers, the smiles come easily.

He talks about the "joy" of playing with everything he had left, knowing the 2015 season would be his last. He went on and on about the "fun" he had playing in Charlotte, part of a team that went 15-1 and to the Super Bowl. He talks about being able to play freely as part of "Luke Kuechly's defense," as opposed to being a focal point himself — as he had so often in the past.

But as he unveiled his Hall of Fame locker Saturday, Allen also acknowledged the fact that he feels a new perspective when he thinks about that year.

"Sports are great that way. They teach you lessons even when you're not looking for it," Allen said Saturday, in a quiet room steps away from where his bronze bust will be placed in August. "It's funny. It's the least number of stats I have had, but the most success I have ever had playing football."

Allen's casual when he says it, in a way beyond the fact he walked into the Hall on a cool spring morning in a pair of shorts and flip-flops, nursing a massive organic coffee.

But the reality is that the Panthers were the final chapter of a brilliant career.

After arriving in a Week 4 trade, Allen played 12 regular season games, plus two more in the playoffs. He was able to play in his only career Super Bowl as a member of the Panthers, which overshadowed the fact he collected 2.0 of his 136.0 career sacks with the Panthers.

He admitted some frustration at not being an every-down player — a combination of his own health and the return of Charles Johnson from the injury that sparked the trade — but also kept coming back to all the fun he had every day at practice and how good that team was.

"It was like, pretty much, get out of your own way," Allen said. "You said you wanted to play in a Super Bowl before you retire, and here you are on this insanely good team. So, just find where you can help, and let's get to the ultimate goal.

"So that's why I always say it's the most success I ever had playing football, yet personally, it was the worst season of my career."

And because his time with the Panthers was so brief, the team's footprint in Canton is a little less than last summer when Julius Peppers was inducted.

As Allen unveiled his locker at the Hall, it contained a couple of his game jerseys from Minnesota and Kansas City, a letter from Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, and a pair of his cowboy boots, a hat, and a lasso from his time on the California ranch where he grew up.

The Hall also announced a bit of trivia that drew a laugh from the crowd, the fact he's the only member of the 382-man Hall who wore jersey No. 69 as a player.

That was primarily attached to Hall of Honor left tackle Jordan Gross during his Panthers career and his retirement after the 2013 season, and Allen joked about what might have happened had Gross still been playing when he arrived.

"Oh, Jordan would have had to give me that (number) 69," Allen said, joking but still very serious. "We would have had to go back and see, I think I got more sacks on you than you denied me of sacks.

"Honestly, that would have been; I probably would have just retired. I'm too old in my career to switch my number at the last second. Yeah, Jordan and I probably would have had to rock-paper-scissors or have to just go measure like, all right, who's got more All-Pros, who's got more Pro Bowls, who won the last time we played against each other?"

There was no Panthers gear in the Hall of Fame locker (or Bears items, for that matter), but the Hall does have a few items from his time in Carolina.

In the archive room (near a vaguely marked cardboard box labeled "USFL FILM" containing reels of actual film), Hall vice president of museum and archive services Jon Kendle displayed the paperwork from the trade that sent him from the Bears to the Panthers (for a 2016 sixth-round pick), as well as a few photographs and the gamebook and jersey patch from Super Bowl 50 (Allen's final game).

But come the fall, the Hall will have another former Panther on hand, a guy who described with awe the sight of offseason workouts with Julius Peppers, and a guy who was just happy to fit in alongside a future Hall of Famer like Kuechly.

"I could not have asked for a better way to end my career, even though we lost the Super Bowl," Allen said. "Just that group of guys and the amount of fun we had.

"It made football really fun."