Jason La Canfora recently spoke with DE Jared Allen‘s agent, Ken Harris, who mentioned that he had a “very positive, constructive” meeting with the Vikings brass Thursday.
- According to La Canfora, the meeting left Harris “glowing about an organization.”
- La Canfora expects Allen to make the Vikings aware of the contract terms of any offer he receives during free agency as a courtesy.
“They have been great throughout this entire process,” Harris said of the Vikings. “They asked that we keep them informed of what’s going on as we begin to talk to teams at the appropriate time, and we absolutely will. They understand the situation, and that Jared has never had a clean shot at free agency before in his career, and as we explore those options we will keep the Vikings informed. Everybody respects each other. Jarred loves them and they love him, and they made that clear again (Thursday night).”
La Canfora lists: the Seahawks, Broncos, Patriots, 49ers, Colts, Falcons and Packers as potential options for Allen in free agency.
I would add the Buccaneers to that list as well based on the fact that they hired Leslie Frazier as their defensive coordinator.
Allen, 31, has played for Frazier for the past six seasons and fits an obvious need for the Buccaneers at defensive end. Allen has been an extremely productive player during his time in Minnesota, and although his 2013 season wasn’t as good as years past, he still manged to tally 11.5 sacks, 52 tackles and two forced fumbles.
Veteran defensive ends like Dwight Freeney, John Abraham and Shaun Phillips didn’t fair to well on the open market last year, which suggests that although Allen is younger than these players were and has been consistently productive over the course of his career, he could be in for a limited market.
Pro Football Focus has Allen rated as the No. 34 among qualifying 4-3 defensive ends. We have him listed as the No. 40 player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.
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I keep hearing that we need to find a replacement for him. How about we just keep him? You know he is going to get 10-15 sacks next year. Why not here?
He has been incredibly consistent, despite having to fend off double-teams. It does sound like both parties expect him to field offers on the open market to start.