WRs Allen, Williams hope to stay with cap-strapped Chargers

COSTA MESA, Calif. -- As the Chargers head into an offseason well over the league's projected 2024 salary cap and with plans to hire a new head coach and general manager, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, two of the team's highest-paid players, said they hope to stay in Los Angeles.

"I don't want to go nowhere else," Allen said. "I've been here 10 years like you said, the longest guy on the team, so I'm not looking forward to anything else."

Allen was having the best season of his career before suffering a heel injury in Week 14, which kept him out of the Chargers' final four games. Allen said he could have played in the Chargers' final game if a playoff berth was on the line but sat out to be cautious.

In 13 games, Allen set the Chargers' single-season record for receptions with 108 and reached 1,243 yards, the second-most in his career. But the Chargers are projected to be $27.5 million over the salary cap next season, according to the Roster Management System. Allen, 31, is due $18.1 million in the final year of his contract.

Allen said he would play for only a "select few" teams if he were traded. Otherwise, he would retire.

"If It did come down to that, adios amigos," Allen said with a smile. "I'll get picked up in the offseason or right before the playoffs like them old heads be doing."

Williams, who suffered an ACL tear in Week 3, echoed Allen's comments about wanting to stay with the Chargers.

Williams is in the final year of a three-year, $60 million contract and is owed $17 million next season. When healthy, he has been one of the Chargers' top targets. Williams' best season came in 2021, when he had 76 catches for 1,146 yards and nine touchdowns, all career highs. In Williams' final game this year, he had seven catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.

"I feel like all that stuff is going to play out itself," Williams said of the future. "I don't really think about that too much. That's going to happen regardless of the situation. My main focus is just getting back healthy."

As for a timetable for Williams to return from his ACL tear, he said he is ahead of schedule but declined to give specifics on when he would return.

Whether or not Wiliams and Allen are back next season, it appears the Chargers will be without center Corey Linsley.

Linsley, who was out since Week 3 with a non-emergent heart issue, said Monday there is a 99% chance he will retire this offseason.

Linsley declined to go into the specifics of what his diagnosis is but said that doctors advised him that playing football put him at a higher risk of severe problems moving forward. On Monday, Linsley looked much slimmer than his 300-pound playing weight, and acknowledged it's been a part of his plan to remain healthy. Linsley said he will have more medical tests done in March to solidify his status but acknowledged his NFL career is likely over.

"I mean, Year 10, I don't know how many years I have left anyway," Linsley said. "So, it sucks. Obviously, that's not how I would've wanted this to end, but I can't complain. I can't be sad about 10 years in. It's got to end for everybody at some point.

"... I'm thankful for everything that I got to accomplish. Everything. Teams that I've been on, the people that I met, the friendships and the battles that we've had out there. And there's so much to be thankful for that I can't really be too upset."

The Chargers signed Linsley to a five-year, $62.5 million contract in March of 2021. In his first season with the Chargers, Linsley was an All-Pro and a Pro Bowl selection.