Vikings To Host Jonathan Allen
Having been released, Jonathan Allen is free to visit interested teams prior to the start of the new league year. The Pro Bowl defensive tackle will do just that on Monday.
Allen has a visit lined up with the Vikings, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. Minnesota was recently floated as a potential landing spot, so this latest update comes as little surprise. The Vikings entered Monday with over $61MM in cap space.
Being tied to the 49ers as well, Allen should command a solid third contract. After Grady Jarrett spent only hours as a cap casualty before joining the Bears on a three-year, $43.5MM deal, Allen figures to set a high floor. Going into an age-30 season, Allen is nearly two years younger than Jarrett.
Although Allen is coming off a season-altering injury — a partial pectoral tear — he made it back in time to help the Commanders make one of the most surprising trips to the conference championship game in NFL history. Allen also has two Pro Bowls on his resume, helping Washington while Chase Young missed over a year due to a severe knee injury. Allen combined for 16.5 sacks and 26 tackles for loss during his Pro Bowl 2021 and ’22 seasons, but the Commanders decided to cut bait on his $18MM-per-year deal before its final year.
Minnesota has not yet made a notable addition on its defensive line. The team, however, has regulars Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery in free agency. Harrison Phillips returns, but an Allen addition would certainly provide a boost to the Vikes’ interior pass rush. It will be interesting to see if suitors beyond Minnesota and San Francisco emerge, as Allen will enter Tuesday as one of the top players available.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
49ers Interested In Jonathan Allen; Vikings In Play For DT?
Jonathan Allen came up during the 49ers’ talks with the Commanders on Deebo Samuel. While the All-Pro wide receiver was eventually traded to Washington, the sides could not agree on an Allen inclusion. Now free from his second-tier defensive tackle contract, Allen will be available to the 49ers.
As they are with Joey Bosa, the 49ers are expected to show interest, per the San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch. Allen, 30, will likely hear from a few teams. The Vikings may be ready to explore an addition as well, NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay adds.
The Commanders had given Allen permission to seek a trade, during a Combine week in which many teams did the same. These moves regularly lead to releases, and Allen is now off his four-year, $72MM contract. He was set to earn a $17MM base salary next season, which impacted a minimal trade market. The proven interior pass rusher was entering a contract year; he can now explore the market after multiple waves of DT deals dropped his Washington extension in the pecking order.
San Francisco’s Allen interest also comes as the team is releasing Javon Hargrave. The 2023 free agency addition — given a $21MM-per-year deal — will be a post-June 1 cut. Teams cannot officially move on from post-June 1 players until Wednesday, but Hargrave is no longer in the team’s plans. With Hargrave set to follow Arik Armstead out the door, the 49ers have some work to do at D-tackle. The 49ers also have Kevin Givens set for free agency.
Jordan Elliott and fellow 2024 acquisition Maliek Collins remain on the 49ers’ roster at DT, but Allen is much more accomplished. The eight-year Washington cog has 42 career sacks, having teams with Alabama teammate Daron Payne for seven seasons in the nation’s capital. Payne is all that remains from Washington’s four-first-rounder D-line stable, as the team traded Montez Sweat and Chase Young in 2023. Allen has more Pro Bowls than any of those players, having made two (in 2021 and ’22). After posting 19 QB hits in 2023, Allen suffered a partially torn pec and missed nine games last season.
The Vikings still have Harrison Phillips up front, but starters Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery are on track for free agency. Minnesota, which has most of its starting secondary uncertain to return in 2025, saved some money by not franchise-tagging Sam Darnold. Although the team is interested in retaining the QB at a lower rate, it has work to do on defense.
Commanders To Release Jonathan Allen
Efforts to trade Jonathan Allen came up short. As a result, the veteran defensive tackle is now set to become a free agent.
The Commanders have informed Allen he will be released, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This move will give him a small window of opportunity to test his market before the start of the new league year next week. After eight years in Washington, a change of scenery will now take place.
Allen recently emerged as a cut candidate given the fact one year remained on his contract. None of his base salary ($15.5MM) was guaranteed, and the two-time Pro Bowler was set to carry a cap hit of $22.47MM. This release will free up $16.47MM for the Commanders while generating a dead money charge of $6MM. Washington will have roughly $80MM in available funds once the move is processed.
The Commanders granted Allen permission to seek a trade during last week’s Combine, a clear indication that a parting of ways would be coming in the near future. The 30-year-old was discussed in the negotiations between Washington and San Francisco on the Deebo Samuel trade, but he was ultimately not included. Now, Allen will get a head start on free agency while Washington moves forward with a DT group which still features Daron Payne on one of the position’s most lucrative contracts.
Washington supplemented the Payne-Allen tandem by drafting Johnny Newton in the second round last year. The Illinois product wound up making 11 starts during his rookie season (thanks to the pectoral tear which sidelined Allen for a notable stretch), registering 44 tackles and a pair of sacks. Newton will be counted on to handle a first-team role moving forward now that Allen is out of the picture.
Selected in the first round in 2017, Allen has started all but one of his 113 career games. The Alabama product has reached 5.5 sacks or more on five occasions, with his personal best in that regard coming in 2021 with nine. Expectations on his next team will not include a repeat of that feat, but he can still be counted on to provide starting-caliber play during the next phase of his career. It will be interesting to see how strong of a market Allen can generate before free agency officially opens.
Deebo Samuel Notes: Draft Compensation, Jonathan Allen, Broncos, Texans
The 49ers made good on their promise to honor WR Deebo Samuel’s trade request, shipping him to the Commanders in exchange for a fifth-round pick. Given Samuel’s disappointing 2024 season, San Francisco knew it would be selling low on the 2021 First Team All-Pro, and a Day 3 selection was seen as the likely return. That said, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini says Niners GM John Lynch was seeking a fourth-rounder before agreeing to take back the fifth from former subordinate and current Washington GM Adam Peters.
Albert Breer of SI.com says that selection will be a 2025 pick (No. 148 overall), which means Washington’s first pick on the third day of April’s draft will not be until the sixth round (the team dealt a third- and fourth-rounder to the Saints as part of the November trade that brought CB Marshon Lattimore into the fold, and the pick going to San Francisco is the same one Washington acquired in the Lattimore trade). As such, Breer believes the club could seek trade-down opportunities to backfill the holes that the Lattimore and Samuel deals created.
In light of Lattimore’s recent injury woes and Samuel’s inability to recapture his 2021 form, those acquisitions come with some risk. However, the potential reward is also quite high. When looking at the net impact on the Commanders’ cache of draft picks, the high-profile transactions allowed Washington to address areas of obvious need with Pro Bowl-caliber players in exchange for a 2025 third-rounder, fourth-rounder, and sixth-rounder (h/t ESPN’s Field Yates). The Niners, meanwhile, now have 11 selections in April’s draft (h/t/ Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle), which could be critical for a club that may put a high-end QB contract on its books in the near future.
One of the ways Peters could acquire additional draft capital is by dealing longtime DT Jonathan Allen, who has been given permission to seek a trade. Per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Allen’s name did come up when the Commanders and 49ers were discussing Samuel, but the 30-year-old defender remains on Washington’s roster for the time being. Although Allen could have been a replacement for presumptive cap casualty Javon Hargrave, Allen’s salary – he is due $15.5MM in base pay in 2025 – was perhaps an insurmountable hurdle.
Regardless of whether they retain or jettison Allen, the cap-flush Commanders have the financial wherewithal to take a risk on a player with Samuel’s upside (as noted previously, the team is absorbing the entirety of Samuel’s $17.55MM salary for 2025, the last year of his current deal). As we also discussed earlier this month, the South Carolina product is technically due a $15.4MM option bonus on March 22, and Washington could utilize the option to spread out the $17.55MM cap charge and incur just $5.21MM against the cap this year. However, that would push additional money into void years, and since the Commanders are expected to have over $80MM in cap room, Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com believes the team will simply take on the entire $17.55MM hit in 2025. Of course, Samuel and his new team could explore an extension, a possibility that Fitzgerald and others have acknowledged.
The Texans joined the Commanders as teams that had serious interest in Samuel, and the dynamic “wide back” would have been interested in joining Houston, per Russini (subscription required). He also would have been intrigued by the possibility of landing with the Broncos. There have been conflicting reports about whether Denver was actually interested in Samuel, but Russini indicates that neither the Broncos nor the Texans actually made an offer.
Commanders Grant Jonathan Allen Permission To Seek Trade
Jonathan Allen‘s future in the nation’s capital is increasingly uncertain. The Pro Bowl defensive tackle has been granted permission to seek a trade by the Commanders, as first reported by CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones. 
Allen has spent his entire eight-year career with Washington, serving as a mainstay along the defensive front during that span. The 30-year-old has only one year remaining on his contract, however, and none of his base salary ($15.5MM) is guaranteed. Set to carry a 2025 cap charge of $21.44MM as things stand, Allen is a candidate to be released in the near future.
As a result, it comes as little surprise he and his camp have received permission to find a trade partner. As Jones notes, teams have contacted the Commanders in recent days about Allen. Talks on that front will no doubt intensify at the Combine. Cutting or trading the former first-rounder would yield $16.47MM in savings for the team while generating a dead money charge of $6MM.
Allen was limited to five games during his rookie season, but after that he had a run of durability which ended in 2024. The Alabama product suffered a pectoral tear which appeared at first to be season-ending. Allen managed to return in time for the end of the campaign as well as all three of Washington’s playoff games, but the team is set to move on at this point. Daron Payne remains attached to the four-year, $90MM extension he signed upon receiving the franchise tag in 2023, while 2024 second-round pick Johnny Newton is in place as a candidate to replace Allen (a 108-game starter with 42 sacks to his name) in the starting lineup.
After showcasing his potential on his rookie contract, Allen landed an extension averaging $18MM per year in 2021. His Pro Bowl nods came in back-to-back campaigns upon signing that deal, something which pointed to a long-term run in Washington. Now, his time with the franchise is nearing an end. With the option of signing Allen after a release still a distinct possibility, it will be interesting to see if any of the interested parties are willing to part with draft capital to work out a trade agreement.
Commanders Could Release Jonathan Allen?
Beginning in 2017, the Commanders used a first-round pick on a defensive lineman for four consecutive years. The first player in that stretch – Jonathan Allen – has remained in Washington throughout his career.
The veteran has been a mainstay along the defensive front since a rookie campaign which saw him limited to only five games. A pectoral tear led to a major absence in 2024, and even though Allen managed to return to the lineup when he was feared to be sidelined for the rest of the campaign, he now faces an uncertain future. The 30-year-old could find himself as a cap casualty.
Ben Standig of The Athletic writes it appears to be unlikely the Commanders and Allen will work out a restructure or extension which would lower his scheduled 2025 cap hit of $22.47MM (subscription required). One year remains on his pact, and none of his $15.5MM base salary for the coming campaign is guaranteed. An alteration could of course be on the table, considering Washington is near the top of the NFL in terms of cap space as free agency approaches. Failing that, however, the team could move on via a release.
Allen has produced at least six sacks in a season four times to date, and he earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2021 and ’22. His impact against the passer remained notable this past campaign (three sacks in eight games), but Washington already has Daron Payne under contract on a lucrative deal (which includes guarantees for 2025) for the next two years. The team also selected a potential Allen successor in the form of Johnny Newton last April.
The second-rounder battled an ankle injury which required multiple surgeries during his rookie campaign, but after logging a 51% snap share across 16 games he could take a step forward in usage and production in 2025. Moving on from Allen would set up a Payne-Newton tandem on the interior as the Commanders look to improve against the run this offseason. Of course, the regime led by general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn is not the one which was in place when Allen was drafted or extended in 2021.
Peters said last March he was not looking to trade the Alabama product, although the Newton selection led to renewed interest from teams shortly thereafter. Allen’s injury will hurt his market in the event he is cut, but his track record would no doubt allow for him to find a suitor relatively soon. The Commanders would generate $16.47MM in cap savings while incurring a dead money charge of $6MM by moving forward with a release.
Commanders Activate Jonathan Allen Off IR
The Commanders have activated defensive tackle Jonathan Allen from injured reserve, per a team announcement.
Allen landed on IR in October after a pectoral injury that was originally thought to be season-ending. Optimism grew after doctors discovered during surgery that his pectoral was only partially torn. He was able to return to practice on December 18, giving him enough time to ramp up and return to the field before the end of the season.
The two-time Pro Bowler was off to a slightly slower start than previous years, notching just 15 tackles and 2.0 sacks in his first six games. Washington’s run defense still suffered without him; the Commanders have surrendered 2,061 rushing yards so far this season, the fifth-most in the NFL.
Washington has relied on two recent second-round picks – Phidarian Mathis and Jer’Zhan Newton – to fill the void left by Allen’s absence. The Commanders waived Mathis earlier on Saturday, signaling that Allen would soon be headed back to the active roster. He will rejoin fellow Pro Bowler Daron Payne on the interior of Washington’s defensive line. Payne has started all 15 games, though his 68% snap share is a career-low.
Allen and Payne will hope to anchor the Commanders defense against the Falcons on Sunday night. A win would clinch Washington’s first playoff appearance since 2020, an impressive outcome after an organizational overhaul resulted in a new owner, head coach, and rookie quarterback.
Commanders Waive DL Phidarian Mathis
The Commanders are moving on from a former second-round pick. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the team is waiving defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis. Rapoport hints that the third-year player has a chance of catching on with a new squad via the waiver wire.
The Alabama product was selected with the 47th-overall pick in the 2022 draft. He suffered a torn meniscus in his NFL debut that kept him off the field for most of his rookie campaign. A calf injury forced him out of the lineup for the start of his sophomore season, and he got into about a third of his team’s defensive snaps once he returned in October.
Mathis saw a similar role in 2024, appearing in 257 defensive snaps in 12 appearances. When Jonathan Allen went down with an injury, Mathis initially saw an uptick in snaps opposite Daron Payne or Jer’Zhan Newton. However, Mathis has been inactive for each of the past three games, with the likes of Sheldon Day, Jalyn Holmes, and Carl Davis earning snaps at defensive tackle.
This move could ultimately be a precursor to the Commanders activating Allen from IR. The veteran has been working his way back from a pectoral injury suffered in mid-October. Allen returned to practice earlier this month and was a full participant this week.
Commanders DT Jonathan Allen To Return To Practice
Jonathan Allen had suffered a pectoral injury that was slated to end his season, but last week brought a positive development on this front. An Allen return became possible; a few days later, the Commanders will see their longest-tenured defender back at work.
Washington will have Allen at practice today, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, marking the start of his 21-day activation window. The eighth-year defensive tackle has been out since suffering the pectoral injury in Week 6. Allen only suffering a partially torn pec, as opposed to the initially feared full tear, will allow for this return.
This season marks a rarity for Allen, whose only playoff berth came as part of a 7-9 2020 team. Washington potentially going through another rebuild brought hesitation from Allen, who then landed in trade rumors. The Commanders held onto the former first-round pick this offseason and appear close to again pairing him with longtime teammate (in Washington and at Alabama) Daron Payne.
The Commanders, who sit 9-5 after holding off the Saints, have Allen on what now looks like a team-friendly contract. The team paid the quality D-tackle in 2021, authorizing a four-year, $72MM deal. That contract runs through next season. Unlike Payne, Washington made Allen a priority before his contract year. Payne, however, benefited from playing out his by then being franchise-tagged and signed to a then-top-market pact (four years, $90MM). He and Allen are poised to reform one of the NFL’s top DT duos.
Allen, 29, has produced at least six sacks in four seasons. He was productive before and during the Montez Sweat–Chase Young era, doing well to help Washington compensate for the latter’s long-running injury hiatus. Allen reached a career-high nine sacks and 30 QB hits in 2021, making the Pro Bowl that season and again in 2022. Payne, 27, joined him that year but has only totaled seven QB hits (to go with four sacks) this season. Allen had already reached six hits (two sacks) before his injury.
Retooling around several new arrivals, the Commanders have seen Dante Fowler (8.5 sacks) and Frankie Luvu (eight) spearhead their pass rush. Allen and Payne arrived during Bruce Allen‘s time running the team, with the Dan Quinn-Adam Peters duo the third regime to stop by during the DTs’ tenure. It will certainly stand to help the Commanders’ chances to make the playoffs once Allen returns; barring a setback, that figures to come soon.
Commanders DT Jonathan Allen Hoping To Return In 2024
Jonathan Allen‘s pectoral injury was once deemed season-ending, but the Commanders defensive lineman is still hoping to return in 2024. According to ESPN’s John Keim, Allen “has not abandoned hope” that he can return this season.
[RELATED: Commanders DT Jonathan Allen Suffers Season-Ending Pectoral Injury]
The veteran suffered his pectoral injury back in November, but there was some good news during his subsequent surgery. While it was initially believed that Allen tore his muscle, Keim notes that doctors discovered that Allen’s pectoral muscle was only partially torn. While Allen eventually landed on IR, there was growing hope that he could return for the stretch run of the 2024 campaign. Keim adds that later checkups helped maintain optimism that Allen could play again this season.
In anticipation of a potential return, the defensive lineman has been recently working out at team facilities with a hope of returning before the end of December. Keim writes that Allen would have to prove that he’s “regained all his strength” before he’d be allowed back on the field.
The 2017 first-round pick has spent his entire career in Washington, earning a pair of Pro Bowl nods while transforming into one of the organization’s top defenders. After collecting 22 sacks and 22 QB hits between 2021 and 2023, Allen was continuing to produce in 2024, collected a pair of sacks and six QB hits through six games. The 29-year-old is on the books through 2025 (although none of his 15.5MM base salary for that year is guaranteed). With the organization also invested in Daron Payne and used a pair of recent second-round picks at the position (Phidarian Mathis, Jer’Zhan Newton), leading some teams to sniff around last offseason about a potential Allen trade.
With Allen out of the lineup, Mathis and Newton have basically split snaps playing next to Payne. Sheldon Day and Jalyn Holmes also saw an uptick in playing time when Allen went down with an injury. Mathis was a healthy scratch back in Week 13, so the team wouldn’t have any difficult decisions to make if Allen returns.