Writing in a head cold medicine daze. Forgive the brevity.
But Carl Peterson and Ken Harris, Jared Allen's agent, haven't been speaking this off season! Carl Peterson is an inept GM! Carl Peterson loves to play hard ball!
Relax. If you're one of the many Kansas City Chiefs fans worked up that is. Jared Allen will be a Kansas City Chief for a long time to come.
How do I know this? I don't. I have no inside knowledge or historical precedent to go by.
But how could the Kansas City Chiefs not re-sign Jared Allen to a long-term deal?
The Chiefs and Carl Peterson are taking their time because they can. The Chiefs don't actually have to have a deal in place until June. Both sides can sit back, waiting for information to bubble to the surface that will either help or hurt their bargaining positions. It's a city-wide past time to criticize Carl Peterson but give the man the benefit of the doubt. He wants Jared Allen back too. He needs Jared Allen back. He won't allow his ego to sabotage these negotiations.
It's been said many times around here and other places but if the Chiefs did not re-sign Jared Allen to a long term deal this year, it would be an act that directly contradicts the publicly chosen path this team is on. Find good players, draft them and when you have to, pay them.
Jared Allen hasn't made anything close to the going rate for a defensive end of his skill. All Allen can ask for is the market rate for his services and the Chiefs will wind up paying it. The Chiefs have already gotten a hell of a deal for Jared Allen so it doesn't make sense to skimp on the cash when they've already saved so much.
Relax Chiefs fans. Jared Allen will remain a Chief. It would be reckless not to bring him back.