It feels like we’ve been down this road before. Over the last several months, it’s been written and said how the Washington Football Team should get an extension done with defensive lineman Jonathan Allen before the 2021 season.
Well, with training camp about to open for Washington this week, it’s time to have that conversation — again.
Allen has said multiple times how he wants to remain with Washington. And, unlike others such as Kirk Cousins and Brandon Scherff, who’ve said the same thing, there are reasons to believe Allen is genuine.
Allen played his high school football at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn — right down the road from Washington’s team headquarters. When he says Washington is home, it’s true.
Washington has the cap space to extend Allen now. If Allen gets through the summer without an extension in place, what would his incentive be to agree to a new contract during the season?
If Allen isn’t extended, Washington is headed for another dance with the franchise tag. The franchise tag hasn’t been good to Washington. And, while you can blame the previous regime for Cousins’ fiasco, it’s Rivera who has applied the tag to Scherff in consecutive seasons.
The WFT can’t use the franchise tag on Allen for multiple reasons. One, it shows every young Washington player that if you wait until the expiration of your contract, the team will apply the tag, and you have no reason to negotiate a long-term deal.
Once the Football Team slapped the tag on Scherff again, there was no reason for him to discuss an extension. Make $18 million in 2021 and hit free agency in 2022.
Also, not agreeing to an extension before free agency could hurt the team with its other young players. Allen is loved and respected. What will other young players like Daron Payne and Terry McLaurin think when it’s time for their contract to be extended?
Washington can end this all now. And should. By not getting it done, the team could regret it in 2022.
Leave a Reply