New Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Keenan Allen was arrested on Sunday morning in downtown Indianapolis on drunken driving charges, according to ESPN. The specific charges were DWI and DWI endangering a person. This is a developing story, and more information will be learned soon.
The organization is aware of the situation and issued a statement that read, "We are aware of the incident involving Keenan Allen last night. We are in the process of gathering more information and have no further comment at this time."
The overall picture is a bit different and more immediate, though, as the team has to make roster decisions by 6 pm ET on Sunday to get down to an active 53. Allen's arrest will likely have no bearing on his roster spot, though the NFL could suspend him for his off-field infraction.
Indianapolis Colts' Keenan Allen's arrest unlikely to change the roster makeup
The Colts could also keep an extra wideout on the roster in anticipation that Allen will be punished by the league, but that seems unlikely. A team cannot assume anything in this situation. No one knows if Allen will need to miss games because of his new legal problems, either. So much remains unknown, and may continue to be so for a while.
The timing of the arrest is awful, too, but then any arrest would be. Simply looking from a roster standpoint, what happened on Sunday morning shouldn't mean much. The regular season is still two weeks away.
The Indianapolis Colts are also extremely unlikely to sign another receiver while waiting to see what happens with Allen because general manager Chris Ballard already took nearly the entire preseason before signing the only wideout on the market that made sense for head coach Shane Steichen's offense: Allen.
It should be noted that, as far as the public knows, Allen has not had any legal issues before, so the new arrest is unusual. Whether that has any bearing on anything the league does in punishment or not is unknown.
Most likely, Indianapolis moves forward with the same roster construction it had before. The main trio of wide receivers will be Alec Pierce, Josh Downs, and Keenan Allen, assuming all stay healthy enough to play.
How fans see the recently signed player is another situation completely. People will make up their minds about Allen's guilt or innocence, though the wiser move might simply be waiting until all the facts come out about his arrest.
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