Colts Trading Away Tight End Dwayne Allen is Not Too Surprising

The Indianapolis Colts continue reshape their roster before teams can officially ink deals with free agents Thursday. Wednesday, they trade tight end Dwayne Allen to the New England Patriots.

Along with Allen, the Colts also sent their 2017 sixth round pick to the Patriots. However, they acquired a fourth round pick in the upcoming draft. Overall, the deal is not shocking and makes sense for both sides.

Allen, a five-year pro out of Clemson, had been a starter for the Colts since his rookie season. He started 56 of 57 games for Indianapolis. He accumulated 126 receptions for 1,451 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns during that time.

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Unfortunately, Allen’s tenure in Indy will be remembered mainly for injuries and inconsistency. Allen only played a whole season once in his entire career (his rookie season). He missed 15 games in 2013, and missed at least two games in each of his last three seasons.

While Allen had plenty of games with four or five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown or two, he also had a handful of game where he did not record a catch.

That is too inconsistent for a player that makes a little over $7 million on a per year average. Allen signed a $29.4 million contract extension with the Colts in 2016. By trading him now, Indianapolis removes the last three years of his contract and saves $2.937 million in cap space this year.

The Colts also saw Jack Doyle emerge as the team’s top pass-catching tight end in 2016. They just re-signed Doyle to a three-year, $21 million deal.

Although the Colts like tight ends and had the cap space to comfortably keep both, there was sense one had to go. Clearly, Allen was the odd man out because of the injury concerns and the inconsistency.

As for New England, Allen will join tight end Rob Gronkowski to form another version of their two-tight end attack. Last year, the Patriots had Martellus Bennett, but the team probably did not want to give him a large contract extension this summer.

Meanwhile, Indianapolis turned its sixth round pick into a fourth round pick. This now gives the Colts three fourth round picks: their own, the Patriots’ and a compensatory. They do not own any picks in the final two rounds of the draft.

Indianapolis will need to find a tight end to replace Allen. Ideally, Erik Swoope, an exclusive free agent, could move up the depth chart and be the No. 2 tight end with Doyle assuming the primary role.

Thinking back now, it is amazing how quickly the Coby Fleener – Dwayne Allen tandem fizzled out after a wonderful 2014 campaign. Together, the two had 70 receptions for 1,169 receving yards and 16 touchdowns that year.

Two years later, Indianapolis has completely distanced themselves from that pair. Fleener left for New Orleans and now, Allen is off to New England.

Next: Colts Seven-Round Post-Combine Mock Draft

It will be interesting to see how the Colts move forward. They certainly are not do making moves this offseason.

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