BACH
Superbowl, Homeboy!
ALLEN WANTS OUT OF K.C.
Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen, a great player with a history of drunk driving, has asked to be traded.
The team has said no.
The problem? Allen is due to be a restricted free agent, and the Chiefs have not offered him an acceptable long-term deal. And with the high tender likely coming his way, which would result in a first-round and third-round pick as compensation for his services, it's unlikely that anyone will present him with an offer sheet.
So he's looking at a one-year deal worth $2.35 million, and free agency in 2008. Unless he is slapped with the franchise tag.
"I feel shocked and hurt," Allen told the Kansas City Star. "Requesting a trade was probably the toughest thing I've had to do. It's nothing personal against the town of Kansas City and the fans. It's been great. [But] it doesn’t look like my future is going to be there, and I have to accept that. That's why this is so hard. All the hard work I've put in, the blood, sweat and tears. . . . I wanted to finish my career there. I was led to believe I was going to."
But the team's decision to keep him as a restricted free agent isn't necessarily a sign that they aren't committed to retaining him over the long haul, and Allen's tantrum shows that he just doesn't understand the business. Indeed, the Chiefs would sign him, but he wants "too much money," said Chiefs G.M. Carl Peterson.
Should we be surprised by Allen's reaction? As several league insiders have opined to us in the past, Allen should be in jail. (He will be soon, if only for two days.) Some teams stayed away from him on draft day 2004 due to fears that he was an alcohol-induced car wreck waiting to happen.
Sure, he has become a good player. But we don't blame the Chiefs for holding their ground. (And neither does Jason Whitlock, who typically finds ways to chide, not congratulate, the Chiefs.) With a team's options now severely limited when it comes to recouping bonus money from guys who get in trouble, the better approach is to delay giving him that bonus money for as long as possible.
If Allen can stay clean for the next year, then maybe he gets signed for the long-haul. Or maybe he gets franchised. If he shows that he has learned nothing, then the Chiefs can let him walk.
Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen, a great player with a history of drunk driving, has asked to be traded.
The team has said no.
The problem? Allen is due to be a restricted free agent, and the Chiefs have not offered him an acceptable long-term deal. And with the high tender likely coming his way, which would result in a first-round and third-round pick as compensation for his services, it's unlikely that anyone will present him with an offer sheet.
So he's looking at a one-year deal worth $2.35 million, and free agency in 2008. Unless he is slapped with the franchise tag.
"I feel shocked and hurt," Allen told the Kansas City Star. "Requesting a trade was probably the toughest thing I've had to do. It's nothing personal against the town of Kansas City and the fans. It's been great. [But] it doesn’t look like my future is going to be there, and I have to accept that. That's why this is so hard. All the hard work I've put in, the blood, sweat and tears. . . . I wanted to finish my career there. I was led to believe I was going to."
But the team's decision to keep him as a restricted free agent isn't necessarily a sign that they aren't committed to retaining him over the long haul, and Allen's tantrum shows that he just doesn't understand the business. Indeed, the Chiefs would sign him, but he wants "too much money," said Chiefs G.M. Carl Peterson.
Should we be surprised by Allen's reaction? As several league insiders have opined to us in the past, Allen should be in jail. (He will be soon, if only for two days.) Some teams stayed away from him on draft day 2004 due to fears that he was an alcohol-induced car wreck waiting to happen.
Sure, he has become a good player. But we don't blame the Chiefs for holding their ground. (And neither does Jason Whitlock, who typically finds ways to chide, not congratulate, the Chiefs.) With a team's options now severely limited when it comes to recouping bonus money from guys who get in trouble, the better approach is to delay giving him that bonus money for as long as possible.
If Allen can stay clean for the next year, then maybe he gets signed for the long-haul. Or maybe he gets franchised. If he shows that he has learned nothing, then the Chiefs can let him walk.
