Panthers Acquire Jared Allen

The Chicago Bears kept dealing Monday night, agreeing to trade linebacker Jonathan Bostic to the New England Patriots for a sixth-round pick.

The Bears traded outside linebacker Jared Allen to the Panthers on Monday.

Allen was healthy in Chicago, but not happy with his role. He later injured an ankle in the preseason and spent the first three weeks of the regular season as a game-day inactive. It will give the Panthers yet another elite pass rusher in their franchise’s history that include the likes of Julius Peppers and Greg Hardy. He was set to earn $8.5 million in 2016 and 2017 with the same amount as his cap hit, but he would not have cost the team any money to cut after this season. Michael Vick’s reaction when Ben Roethlisberger went down in the third quarter, and he had to grab his helmet and go, said it all. When they don’t have anyone disruptive on the defensive line – and the only players anywhere close to that level at the moment are Kawann Short and Mario Addison – even a mediocre quarterback like McCown can throw for 310 yards. The former All-Pro has compiled 134 sacks and six interceptions while playing for the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs.

General manager Ryan Pace should keep in mind the short-lived Jared Allen era, especially when free agency approaches in March.

“In fact, probably the only other position that is quicker as far as transition is offensive lineman”, Rivera said on Panther Talk.

“That’s what going to make us a good defense, if we can rush from inside and outside”, he said, “and give guys those one on ones that we’re able to win”.

In the past two games, the Panthers have allowed quarterbacks to throw the ball 96 times and produced only one sack.

While it would be easy to say that Allen’s departure could just be a one-off thing for the Bears, the chances are it is a sign of things to come.

Allen previously was as consistent as anyone in the league, outing up double digit sacks every season from 2007 until 2013. Young tore his Achilles tendon toward the end of the season, but made a full recovery in time to make the team as an attempted outside linebacker convert. His 5.5 sacks previous year was the lowest total in his impressive 11-year career.