The New England Patriots' search for a veteran addition to their wide receiver corps apparently won't include Los Angeles Chargers wideout Keenan Allen.

Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said Wednesday on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” that Los Angeles will not be cutting or trading Allen.

"Keenan Allen, to me, he's our Andre Reed. He's our Charlie Joiner," Telesco said Wednesday when asked if the Chargers could move on from the 10-year veteran. "He's an incredible football player. We have a great quarterback and we need weapons around him. There's never been any thought of that."

It had previously been speculated that the Chargers could clear needed cap space by cutting or trading Allen, who missed seven games last season with a hamstring injury but still caught 66 passes for 752 yards with four touchdowns. It was Allen’s least productive season since 2016, when he missed all but one game.

Allen, who will be 31 in April, was a third-round pick out of California and has spent his entire career with the Chargers, putting up 796 career catches for 9,287 yards with 52 touchdowns. The Chargers, who need to clear over $20 million to be salary cap compliant, could have subtracted between $14.8 million and $19 million by trading or cutting Allen this offseason. Allen signed a four-year, 80.1 million contract extension with the Chargers in 2020. His base salary this season will be $15.5 million, and he’s due a $3.5 million roster bonus on March 21. Los Angeles can still create cap space by extending or restructuring Allen's remaining deal, but that only pushes guaranteed money into the future.

Patriots wide receivers Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor will be free agents later this month. They have just six wide receivers currently under contract: Kendrick Bourne, DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton, Raleigh Webb, Lynn Bowden and Tre Nixon. Meyers is widely regarded as the top free-agent wide receiver in a class that also includes Odell Beckham Jr., Allen Lazard, Robert Woods and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Kenny Golladay will also join that group when he’s officially released by the New York Giants.

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