The Chargers wanted to dump receiver Keenan Allen’s compensation package for 2024, and they did.
On Thursday night, they announced the trade that will send Allen to Chicago.
Sure, they’ll say all the right things as he makes his exit after 11 seasons with the San Diego and L.A. Chargers. Most teams mostly always do. But it’s just another example of the cold, hard fact that every player in the league is an interchangeable part in a football machine that kept moving before them, kept moving with them, and will keep moving after them.
Contracts don’t mean anything when one side can tear them up and the other side must honor then. In Allen’s case, a suitor was found. For a fourth-round pick, the Chargers got the cap space they needed and the cash relief they wanted. In all, $23.1 million won’t be paid to Allen this year by the Chargers.
It will be paid to Allen by the Bears, who were sufficiently happy to take on the contract that they gave up a fourth-round pick to get it.
Allen exits with 904 catches, 10,530 yards, and 59 touchdowns. He has franchise records for receivers in yards and catches. He got to 900 catches in 139 games, faster than any receiver in NFL history.
“What Keenan Allen has meant to the Chargers for more than a decade cannot adequately be expressed through mere words,” Chargers president of football operations John Spanos said in a statement. “Keenan’s impact lives in the hearts of our fans, in the communities which he has served and amongst the countless teammates who have formed a brotherhood with him. There will only be one Keenan Allen, and we cannot thank him enough for the contributions he has made to our organization both on and off the field.”
Thank you, now scram. That’s not a knock on the Chargers. Every team does it. The act of terminating a player’s employment has morphed in recent years into a bizarre social-media celebration.
The good news for the Chargers is that they got value for Allen’s contract. With receiver Mike Williams, who was cut on Wednesday, they got nothing.
The better news is that they found a way to keep pass rushers Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa, under restructured deals. And the entire episode sends a message to all players that it’s a new day in L.A. under coach Jim Harbaugh and G.M. Joe Hortiz. That there are no sacred cows.
Except for quarterback Justin Herbert. Who will hold that status for as long as he plays well enough to justify his pay. The moment he sufficiently dips, he’ll be yanked out of the machine, traded or cut, and thanked with effusive, heartfelt posts on X, Instagram, or whatever toxic digital fast-food wasteland is poisoning our minds at the time.
Happy Friday!
