The reports are true: the Commanders have indeed given Jon Allen and his agents permission to seek a trade.
“He’s going into the last year of his deal, and we wanted to give him and his reps the chance to explore opportunities,” GM Adam Peters confirmed in his press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine Tuesday. “We’re letting them do that, and staying in contact every day. Really everything is still on the table; it’s in the exploration stage and we haven’t done a lot of exploring. But he’s been a great Commander, a great person for this franchise.”
Allen is owed $15.5 million in salary, and moving him – whether it’s by trade or release, at any time – would open about $16.5 million against the cap given his performance bonus escalators, with a dead cap of just $6 million (the prorated share of his $30 million signing bonus).
The 2017 first-round pick is one of the longest-tenured Commanders but also the third-highest against the cap, and even though he’s been here for seven years longer than the current regime, Peters wants to make sure Allen is taken care of.
“The two main things are that we’ll always do what’s best for our organization, but we also want to do right by Jonathan. Those things are important to us,” Peters said. “(Allen and his reps) will be here later this week, and we’ll keep talking and reconvene then.”