Windy City Gridiron
The Bears were look a little different in 2025, but should Keenan Allen not be one of those changes?
The Chicago Bears are going to make some changes in 2025. As we learned from Ben Johnson’s agent, Rick Smith, when it was important that Johnson wanted “GM alignment,” it meant that he wanted to share a vision with the GM, and he didn’t want the GM to be married to players that may not fit Johnson’s plan. That certainly means Johnson and Ryan Poles will sit down together and evaluate this roster and it will be curious to see who will be back in 2025.
Allen had an interesting year in Chicago. He certainly got off to a slow start, but over the season's final 6 or 7 games, he became Caleb Williams' favorite target and a key part of the Bears’ offense.
Despite that slow start, Allen finished second on the team in targets and was first among wide receivers in success rate. His volume numbers don’t bowl you over but it was clear he did work well with Caleb Williams over the second half of the season.
Williams is going to be 33 for the 2025 season, and he definitely was a step slower than the Allen we’ve seen in Los Angeles over his career, but he still runs excellent routes, knows how to create space, and remains a young quarterback’s best friend.
My answer: While Allen did become a key part of the Bears’ passing attack, I just can’t see Allen as a wise resource-adjustee.
For me, this just comes down to a numbers game. Suppose Allen was interested in taking a massive pay cut, and I do mean massive. In that case, I think bringing him back as the team’s WR3, who can be a key player on third downs, would be a big benefit to the team, but for what his value is going to be at this point, I just can’t see spending more than about 2 years and $25 million total for Allen with about $15 million guaranteed.
Would I expect Allen to accept such an offer? No. I think Allen will certainly see a reduction in his pay next year, but I would think Allen would still want something between $15 and $20 million a year. It will be interesting to see if he could still land that kind of price.
The Bears must spend heavily on the offensive line and they need to push some more resources to the defensive line as well. They just can’t rely on draft picks to fill these holes, they need veteran players who can step in and help on day one.
The Bears need to spend there, and they just should not pay money for a declining (albeit very talented) player who may lose even more effectiveness in 2025.
The Bears certainly need more wide receiver depth on the team, and losing Allen...
