Keenan Allen Wanted to Finish His Career With Chargers But 'Things Happen'

The long-time Bolt is now in the Midwest.

The Los Angeles Chargers made one of the biggest moves of the offseason when they traded away their veteran Pro Bowl wide receiver, Keenan Allen. 

After 11 seasons with the Bolts organization in San Diego and Los Angeles, he will now start a new chapter in his life with the Chicago Bears. There was no question the Chargers needed to make a tough decision to move around some money for their cap issues, but moving Allen like this was quite a surprise, especially after how things went down. 

Things transpired, and now Allen is a Bear. It was reported why the Chargers ended up trading their six-time Pro Bowler, but the 31-year-old didn't want to elaborate. 

The 2017 NFL Comeback Player of the Year was officially introduced as a Bear on Saturday. He thought he would be a Charger for life, but 'things happened' as he alluded to. 

"I'm definitely excited about the new opportunity," Allen said Saturday in his introductory news conference. "Being with a new organization, this organization has a lot of tradition. Obviously wanted to finish my career [with the Chargers], but things happen and you've got to keep on going."

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Keenan Allen, via NFL.com

According to league sources and reported by Charger Insider for The Athletic, Daniel Popper, Allen refused to take a pay cut. 

According to league sources, the Chargers approached Allen about taking a pay cut, and he refused. The structure of the proposed pay cut was similar to the adjustments Bosa and Mack agreed to — slash some salary before restructuring the deal by converting part of the new total salary into a signing bonus. 

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Daniel Popper, via The Athletic

If Allen had agreed to a pay cut with the Bolts, that would have allowed the Chargers to use bonus proration over two years to clear cap space. That did not transpire; instead, the Bolts lost their star wide receiver, saving the Chargers an additional $23.1 million in space in the process.  

Allen is entering the final season of a four-year, $80 million contract with a base salary of $18.1 million. The Chargers wanted to restructure it to stay competitive on the free agency market with Allen on their team. He felt he deserved that same amount of money because of the year he was coming off, and now here we are. 

This one will hurt for a while, and seeing Allen in a different uniform will be odd. Nonetheless, he is one of the best players in Charger history.