Patriots TE Dwayne Allen restructures his contract and locks down his roster spot

New England Patriots tight end Dwayne Allen restructured his contract, per ESPN’s Field Yates, in a move that should guarantee the second-year Patriot another season with the team. Allen was previously scheduled to earn $4.5 million in base salary in 2018 and $6.9 million in 2019. He has a $500,000 roster bonus for each year.

Allen will take a pay cut for 2018 after collecting a mere 10 receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown last season. He grew as a blocker over the course of the season, but the team favored then-rookie tight end Jacob Hollister as a receiver in the red zone.

The Patriots are likely to have the same trio of tight ends for the second-straight year with Rob Gronkowski, Allen, and Hollister serving as the depth chart.

This restructure reminds me a bit of what Danny Amendola did for the Patriots on multiple occasions in order to remain with the team. Amendola took a huge pay decrease with the opportunity to earn back some money with incentives, ultimately dropping from $6.5 million to $1.7 million in 2017. I would expect Allen to have a similar restructure.

Allen will likely make more than the veteran minimum, but any agreement in pay decrease means that Allen can be penciled in on the 2018 roster.