Keenan Allen was a third-round pick out of California for the San Diego Chargers back in 2013, one of the most notorious, bust-heavy drafts in history. The thing is, Allen has never played like a third round pick.
Saturday the Chargers and Allen agreed on a four-year contract extension worth $49 million with $20 million guaranteed and a $9 million signing bonus.
We've agreed to a four-year contract extension with @Keenan13Allen!
DETAILS: https://t.co/n3FDQTWCnS pic.twitter.com/fjhUkyClLV
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) June 11, 2016
Allen played in only eight games last season after suffering a freakish lacerating kidney injury in San Diego’s Week Eight 29-26 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. At that point Allen was one of the top receivers in the league having already hauled in 67 passes for 725 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 90.6 yards per game. He was primed for a monster season when he suffered an injury that usually only happens during a car wreck.
Allen’s 67 receptions in just eight games is tied for the third highest total in NFL history. The only players to catch more passes over eight games are the Atlanta Falcons Julio Jones and former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison.
It’s a big, well-deserved raise for Allen, who was playing on the four-year, $2.8 million contract he signed as a rookie. Allen has already made a dent in the Chargers’ record books, setting rookie records in 2013 for catches (71) and yards (1,046). And this was a team that ran the Air Coryell offense in the 1980s.
Von Miller uses Instagram like he’s in middle school
When the Denver Broncos visited the White House to meet President Barack Obama and celebrate their Super Bowl 50 Championships, naturally people wanted to take pictures and post them to their social media accounts, as you do. Outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware posted this photo to his Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGeW0jdwT5a/?taken-by=demarcusware
It’s a nice photo. The key players in the Super Bowl victory, head coach Gary Kubiak, Ware, MVP Von Miller, quarterback Peyton Manning and General Manager John Elway.
Ware wasn’t the only Bronco to post the pic. Here’s Von Miller’s version.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGeZX1bG0Dl/?taken-by=vonmiller
Somebody’s missing. Somebody call in an APB. We all know sometime towards the end of last week negotiations between Miller and the Broncos on his long-term deal got a little tense. But Miller’s crop job here looks a lot like something a 12 year-old would do after her best friend told her she liked the same member of One Direction.
Miller and the Broncos have a little over a month to get this resolved and they will and maybe John Elway will re-materialize back into Von Miller’s Instagram feed.
Marquise Goodwin’s NFL career on hold for the Summer Olympics
Marquise Goodwin hasn’t exactly had a storied NFL career since the Buffalo Bills drafted him in the third round of the 2013 draft out of Texas. He’s been injured a lot over the last couple of years, but that’s not what’s keeping him out of organized team activities this year. He’s doing the long jump in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Jeneiro.
https://twitter.com/flashg88dwin/status/741401189946822657
Goodwin was a track star at Texas as well as a football player and his blazing speed (4.27 40-yard dash) is a big reason he was drafted so high. He was a two-time NCAA long jump champion in 2010 and 2012 and finished 10th in the London Olympics in 2012.
Goodwin hasn’t left the long jump behind and actually has the top two jumps of all track athletes so far this year. He jumped 8.45 meters back on May 14. He jumped 8.42 meters on June 5. The next closest jumper is Russia’s Rushwal Samaai, who jumped 8.38 meters on May 22. Goodwin has every reason to believe he’ll be wearing a medal and hearing the Star Spangled Banner played as the United States flag is raised this summer.
Football isn’t off the table for Goodwin because he knows track and field doesn’t pay nearly as well. Goodwin signed a four-year, $2.85 million contract with the Bills as a rookie.
“I would definitely do track and field, man,” Goodwin told Sports Illustrated. “Football is my opportunity to advance my life, kind of get a head start on life and put my family in a position to where they wouldn’t want for as much. I felt like track and field wouldn’t grant me that opportunity…”
