[Rhim] How Keenan Allen went from the best year of his career to blindsided by a trade

25 comments

1. “In the days following the NFL combine, the Chargers asked Allen to take a pay cut similar to that of Mack and Bosa, though Allen’s included a two-year extension with an average salary of less than his base $18 million, according to sources close to the negotiation.

   Two days later, Allen’s team proposed a multiyear counteroffer that would have made Allen among the league’s highest-paid receivers, but it was summarily rejected, according to multiple sources close to the negotiations.

   The Chargers’ unwillingness to negotiate is what stunned Allen, sources close to him said. He holds several franchise records for wide receivers, including career receptions and yards. After spending a decade with the Spanos Family ownership, he expected the team would be willing to meet somewhere in the middle, sources close to Allen said.”

2. I for one am ready to move on from this whole saga. Yeah it was shocking at first but the decision has been made and continuing to dwell on it just introduces unnecessary negativity given that the draft hasn’t even happened yet. If Telesco and Staley had made this decision then I’d be right there screeching with you cause those two deserved all the heat coming to them, but we haven’t seen Hortiz and Harbaugh’s vision for the roster materialized. We all wanted Harbaugh to change the trajectory of this franchise and this is what it looks like.

3. Anyone else feel like this has been beaten to death? The guy got traded when a new regimen came in, happens all the time. Hopefully he has success in Chicago and we can both benefit

4. Dont blame either side really. Cant blame Keenan for chasin a bag, cant blame the Chargers for chasing more than 5 wins…

5. We paid Mike W and KA13 handsomely for the last few years. We got nowhere. Time for regime change. Best of luck to both of them.

6. Wild to see the dismissal and blaming from this sub regarding Keenan. Man had his best year, deserved the money, end of discussion. Chargers lowballed because Harbaugh and Hortiz wanted to clean house anyway and make their names off their draft picks. Keenan got fucked and so he got traded. Thats the real discussion. It’s all on the team, and Hortiz/Harbaugh need to have the best draft in years with this amount of turnover. Can’t afford to miss anywhere

7. I see they’re still paying journalists to write on something that could be the length of a comment on reddit.

8. It’s still sad to talk about it. But what I’m liking is that he’s still hasn’t changed his profile picture from IG. This guy is a Die Hard Chargers.

9. It is what it is. It sucks they had to move on, but it’s hard to build a winner and reconstruct a roster, build depth, etc. by having a $34 million cap hit for a receiver that will be 32 next season. For that reason is why the Chargers had no leverage when trying to move him and barely anyone biting for a trade.

10. „Among the leagues highest paid…“

    Yeah, no….!

11. I love Allen, I hate that there is any lingering bad vibes after such an incredible off-season franchise shift. That’s all I have, I wish he was still a Charger.

12. Here’s to hopefully one day seeing him retire a Charger.

13. I love Keenan, but throughout his entire career he’s outspokenly overrated his value and where he fits among the leagues top WRs.

    He gets open, runs technically sound routes, and catches the ball. He’s been VERY good. But he doesn’t stretch the field, doesn’t hit home runs, doesn’t scare defenses in a way that creates opportunities for other players. He’s probably at no point in his career been one of the 5 best WRs in the game. He’s a compiler.

    Every time one of those top WR lists come out, or Madden rankings are revealed he takes issue with it publicly. He just consistently rates himself higher than any one else does in a way that’s even uncommon for WRs.

    He thinks he’s Michael Thomas, Julio Jones, OBJ, Justin Jefferson, Cooper Kupp, Jamarr Chase, or even Mike Evans and he’s just not. He wants to be paid like that and he doesn’t deserve it.

14. > The Chargers’ unwillingness to negotiate is what stunned Allen, sources close to him said. He holds several franchise records for wide receivers, including career receptions and yards. After spending a decade with the Spanos Family ownership, he expected the team would be willing to meet somewhere in the middle, sources close to Allen said.

    Yea, Chargers did him dirty. What’s done is done I guess.

15. KA13 Agent jacked this up if Keenan is mad.

    There is no “meeting in the middle” when one side needs a pay cut and you don’t want a pay cut.

    i.e. Like if a contractor comes over and says it’ll cost me $5k. But after negotiations, they say the lowest they can go is $4.5K and I say the highest I can go is $4k. We are unlikely to meet in the middle. There are other constraints (I don’t have the extra $500 and they need to cover their costs).

16. I see the pro’s of keenan being on the roster outweighing the price tag. But considering the titans are paying D Hop who’s the same age as slay, about $13m a season, hortiz made a calculated call that will only pay out if they draft a first tier receiver this year 

17. > Allen, wide receiver Mike Williams and linebackers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack had four of the five highest non-quarterback salary cap hits in the league for 2024. Allen’s $34.7 million cap hit made it likely that the Chargers would look to restructure his deal, trade him or release him.

    It’s a business. The article leaned toward sympathy for Keenan, but it eventually got back on track.

    >His salary, combined with the bonus deadline, limited the Chargers’ leverage. Ultimately, the Chargers settled on the Bears’ offer for a 2024 fourth-round pick, and Chicago took on Allen’s salary.

    I hate that we had to settle, but we had to move forward and I’m glad we have a lot more financial flexibility now. I’ll just say this on a loop – winning solves everything.

18. The “business “ is winning rings….. and I really can’t see how this helps us to win a ring

19. “Blindsided”?

20. This article seems to be slightly biased…

    Neither side is wrong. Keenan wasn’t wrong for standing on his price and Jim/Joe weren’t wrong for trading him.

    They clearly valued our DL more and decided they could replace the production of Keenan and Mike through the draft and free agency. To be fair, this is a stacked draft class at WR and not so much at DE.

21. Blindsided prolly not too accurate here..

22. To me, retaining Allen, Herbert’s number 1 trusted receiver and then adding a rookie that can complement and even maybe help move on from Allen seems like a no brainer. Teams have just converted chunks of contracts to signing bonus’s in the past, so, why not just kick the can a little longer? Or hey, maybe just shit can the bum Bosa.

23. I don’t want to imagine what our win total would have been last year without Keenan.  Justin was playing to win and, with our hurting O-line and WR injuries, Keenan was the most reliable target.  He came through and worked hard.  This year in Chicago, Keenan will have help and, considering our unfinished roster, Keenan might just be in a better place.  Thank you Keenan.

24. The saddest part for me is that the JC Jackson debacle and its resulting dead cap likely was the deciding factor for whether Keenan got to stay or not. I don’t think the team would have approached him with this ultimatum of a pay cut or otherwise would have offered a more player-friendly adjusted deal had they had an extra 10-20 million this year to work with.

25. This is a casualty of an organization and a general manager that gave the new regime a $50M cap overage. There’s no wiggle room. It is what it is, unfortunately.