According to ESPN’s Kris Rhim, a timeline of the events surrounding Keenan Allen’s talks with the Chargers organization before the trade can be established.
After the NFL Combine, the Chargers asked Allen to take a pay cut similar to what they asked of Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack. However, in a new wrinkle, LA offered Allen a two-year extension along with the restructured 2024 contract.
This isn’t necessarily surprising. At his press conference last week, Joe Hortiz mentioned that an extension was one of the options that was discussed with Allen prior to the trade. The specifics of it were unknown at the time though.
Per Rhim, the extension offer AAV was less than Allen’s current base salary of $18.1 million. While not a drastically low offer for receivers aging into their 30s, Allen is coming off one of the most productive seasons of his career. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also re-signed star wide receiver Mike Evans to a deal worth $20.5 million per season prior to the opening of free agency. It wouldn’t be surprising if Allen’s camp used that contract as a baseline for a new deal.
Allen’s camp responded with an extension counteroffer that they thought was more indicative of the receiver’s value. This was two days after the deal was offered to the new Bears’ wideout at the NFL Combine. Using Rhim’s exact words, the counteroffer extension from Allen and his team was “summarily rejected.”
We know the rest of what happened following the rejected counteroffer. Allen was traded to the Bears roughly two weeks ago prior to his roster bonus kicking in on the following Sunday.
Jim Harbaugh was a straight shooter in his media availability on Monday, saying that the NFL was a business. He also mentioned Allen doing what was “honorable” for his family. Hortiz indicated that a roster built around a pricey Allen and potential extensions for other members of the former Big Four restructures group would’ve limited how the new front office wanted to build the team.
The Chargers will look towards both the draft and free agency to fill the void left by Allen.
