The Washington Commanders have given two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jonathan Allen permission to seek a trade.
General manager Adam Peters confirmed the decision at his news conference Tuesday in Indianapolis at the NFL scouting combine. Peters said he wanted to give Allen and agent Blake Baratz a chance to figure out the best path forward.
“We just talked about and said they wanted to be able to explore opportunities,” Peters told reporters. “We’re staying in contact with them every day.”
Allen is going into the final season of a four-year, $72 million extension signed in 2021. There is no guaranteed money owed to the 30-year-old veteran, making him a candidate to be released this spring if an extension is not in place to reduce Allen’s 2025 salary cap hit of more than $22 million.
“Really everything’s still on the table in terms of whether it’s trade or staying here or whatever,” Peters said. “We’re still going through that. It’s kind of early in the stages. We haven’t done a lot of exploring yet, but that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”
The organization’s second-longest-tenured player dating to being a 2017 first-round pick out of Alabama, Allen missed half of last season after tearing a pectoral muscle but returned for Washington’s final four games, including the playoffs. The Commanders reached the NFC title game before losing to eventual Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia.
Peters has the third-most cap space in the league to use — somewhere around $80 million — and would get even more wiggle room by parting ways with Allen.
Since debuting eight years ago, Allen has appeared in 108 games for Washington, making 401 tackles and recording 42 sacks. That sack total ranks fifth in franchise history since it became an official stat in 1982.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
