The Washington Commanders have given defensive tackle Jonathan Allen permission to look for a new team.

The former Alabama All-American joined Washington as the 17th selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. The two-time Pro Bowler ranks second in franchise history in tackles for loss and quarterback hits and 10th in sacks.

But in 2024, Allen missed nine games because of a torn pectoral muscle sustained on Oct. 13. He made it back to the field to start all three of the Commanders’ playoff contests as Washington reached the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 1991.

“These decisions and things you have to come up with are always tough,” Commanders general manager Adam Peters said on Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “With Jon, who’s been a great player as a Commander, a Football Teamer and a Redskin, he’s been a great person for this franchise for a long time, so you have to weigh everything. We looked at it internally, and: OK, what decision do we want to make that’s best for the team but also best for that player? Those are tough conversations to have. You always want to have them civilly. We have. His agent’s been really good with us, and I look forward to coming to a resolution.”

Allen is entering the final season of a four-year, $72 million contract extension that will pay him $15.5 million in 2025. But none of that money is guaranteed. Allen will count $22.471 million on Washington’s salary cap for the 2025 season, and releasing Allen would slice $16.471 million of that off the cap obligations.

“He’s going into the last year of his deal,” Peters said, “and wanted to give him and his representation, Blake Baratz, who’s a really good agent, just talked about it and said wanted to be able to explore opportunities. And so we let them do that. We’re staying in contact with them every day. Just texted with them this morning.

“Really, everything is still on the table in terms of whether it’s a trade or staying here or whatever, so we’re still going through that. It’s still kind of early in the stages. We haven’t done a lot of exploring yet. But that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

If a trading partner is found to take Allen, the Commanders would have Daron Payne and Jer’Zhan Newton as their top defensive tackles. A former Shades Valley High School and Alabama standout, Payne has two seasons remaining on a four-year, $90 million contract extension. A second-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, Newton started 11 regular-season games and played 587 defensive snaps as a rookie.

“The two main things is we’re always going to do what’s best for our organization,” Peters said, “but we also want to do right by Jon, too. And so those things are important to us.”

At Alabama, Allen swept the national Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2016 by winning the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award. He also won the SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award, the Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation’s best lineman and the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation’s best defensive end. Allen was a unanimous All-American in 2016, when he earned All-SEC selection for third season in a row.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.