Bolts From The Blue
Keenan Allen has returned to the Chargers after spending the 2024 season as a member of the Chicago Bears. While in the Windy City, Allen finished second on the team with 70 receptions and 744 receiving yards, but led the group with seven touchdown catches. From week-to-week, he was either the team’s WR2 or WR3, depending on how then-rookie Rome Odunze was performing.
His best game came in Week 16 when he posted a nine-catch, 141-yard effort against the Detroit Lions. It was also the only game in which he eclipsed 100 receiving yards all season.
Now that Allen is back, it’d be a knee-jerk reaction to believe he’s going to step in and be the team’s WR1 again. That is unfortunately a thing of the past now that Ladd McConkey is a Charger. Allen will absolutely have his role as a third-down savant and master of the got-to-have-it moments, but the days of 100 catches and 1,000 yards are probably done for.
With that said, he’s going to be the team’s WR2 outright this season, or at least to begin it. He’ll get his opportunities, I believe we just need to temper early expectations.
So what do we think his final stat line this year will look like? Honestly, I think it’ll look fairly close to his line with the Bears a year ago, if not a little better given that he sat out both Week Two and Three last season.
With left tackle Rashawn Slater lost for the season, I do not expect the rushing attack to take much of a leap this year. In fact, I’ve accepted that Chargers football this year may look too much like past seasons when Herbert was essentially asked to chuck it around more than he should have because nothing else was sparking the offense. The thing is, they’ve got a defense now and a better back to suit Harbaugh’s style of ground control. Hampton and Harris should make up a little for what efficiency they’re losing with Slater out, but not enough to keep this unit balance.
That’s why I think Allen could still push for some good numbers.
Take Quentin Johnston’s 55-catch, 711-yard season as the team’s WR2 in 2024. Allen will absolutely top that many catches, but it remains to be seen just how down the field on average he’ll be deployed. If you extrapolate his stats from a year ago with those two additional games he missed, he gets to roughly 850 yards on about 80 catches.
Now THAT sounds much more like what I’d expect from him this season, but that still just around five receptions and 50-ish yards per outing. If he’s healthy for all 17, it’s hard to not see him average more. The offense now has the likes of Tre’ Harris, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, and Oronde Gadsden II to help clear out room for Allen and McConkey to work the underneath parts of the field. That, and it just seems wrong not to think there...
