And Allen will be forced to take that pay cut WHEN AND IF Belichick is convinced that he has players who can be our blocking TE with anywhere near the ability that he has, and when we have someone that Belichick believes is an acceptable starter if Gronk goes down (not a replacement, just an adequate starter).
Hollister, Tye and Nicklas may make it possible to ask Allen to take a major reduction in compensation, or not.
Belichick is under no pressure to act quickly. The TE situation has been very questionable. We didn't know if Gronk would play this year, or whether he might be traded so that we could have a shot at a top QB. It seems that we have passed that hurdle. So, Allan doesn't need to be our #1 TE. Now, we need to fill the blocking TE job, and the #3 TE job. Allan might negotiate at any point between now and Game 1.