Bears’ Allen signs exclusive rights tender
Bears running back Armando Allen signed his exclusive rights free agent tender on Thursday, which means he’ll likely remain with the Bears next season.
An exclusive rights free agent is a player whose contract has expired and has three or fewer tenured years in the league. His original team must make a contract offer by the league-imposed deadline or the player becomes an unrestricted free agent. No compensation is awarded to a team that loses an exclusive rights free agent.
The 5-foot-8, 190-pound Allen averaged 4.6 yards per carry last season (124 yards on 27 carries) as a change-of-pace option behind Matt Forte and Michael Bush. Allen played in 15 games last season and two games in 2011 after spending most of the season on the Bears’ practice squad.