On Saturday morning, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin provided the details behind Dwayne Allen’s restructured agreement to remain with the Patriots through the 2019 season.
2/2.....
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 3, 2018
*Cut Allen’s 2019 base salary from $6.9m to $6.4m, adding a $500k roster bonus due the third day of the ‘19 league year. Cap number remains $7.4m.
Here is how it breaks down:
While this finalization of Allen’s restructure is sure to bring some closure internally to a contract situation that has been looming all offseason, its 2018 cap savings of $1.125 million does little to satisfy the portion of the Patriots’ fan base intent on eradicating all player personnel from the roster where a misalignment of publicly-perceived value and dedicated salary cap resources exists.
Very plainly, the restructure signifies two things:
- With the Patriots utilizing two or three tight end sets around 27% of the time in 2017, Bill Belichick clearly views Dwayne Allen’s physicality along the line of scrimmage as a premium asset — one that cannot simply be replaced with a rotating carousel of street free agents and practice squad call-ups. Not only did the restructure take advantage of less than 25% of the maximum potential 2018 cap savings ($4,527,095) that could’ve been achieved by cutting Allen and replacing him with a player earning a $480,000 minimum salary, but the playing time and receptions-based incentives (details currently unspecified) allow Allen to earn back the $1.5 million in lost salary. $375,000 of those incentives are reportedly categorized as likely to be earned already. Presumably, this is for participating in more than 40% of the team’s offensive snaps this season — a feat Allen accomplished last year as he participated in 41.7% of such snaps. Should the veteran tight end’s 2018 season meet the required criteria to achieve the rest of his incentives, $1.125 million would be debited from the Patriots’s 2019 adjusted team cap figure.
- This is still a one year and we’ll see deal. However, with a productive 2018 season, another impending “pay cut” situation — much like the one experienced this offseason — could repeat itself in the summer of 2019. While it’s almost a certainty that Allen will not be playing next season with a cap figure of $7.4 million, the Patriots could choose to pick up his $500,000 roster bonus in March with the hopes that another agreement could be reached before the regular season.