Top 50 Cal Pros: No. 22 -- Keenan Allen, Ultimate Possession WR

We are counting down Cal’s top 50 athletes based on their careers as post-collegiate professionals. Their performance as Golden Bears is not factored into the rankings.

22. KEENAN ALLEN

Years at Cal: 2010 to 2012

Sport: Football

Pro teams: San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, Chicago Bears

Age: 33

Hometown: Greensboro, NC

Why we ranked him here: The 6-foot-2, 211-pound wide receiver was selected in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft by the Chargers. He finished second in the AP Rookie of the Year voting after catching 71 passes for 1,046 yards and eight touchdowns. Allen suffered an ACL tear in his right knee in the 2016 opener and missed basically the entire season. He rebounded by catching 102 passes for 1,393 yards and six TDs in 2017 and was voted Comeback Player of the Year and earned the first of his six Pro Bowl invites. In the seven years from 2017 through ’23, Allen had five seasons of at least 100 receptions and averaged nearly 98 catches per year. He has 20 career games with at least 10 receptions, including 18 catches for 215 yards against the Vikings in 2023. After the ’23 season, the Chargers traded Allen to the Chicago Bears. He had 70 receptions for 744 yards and seven TDs for Chicago but enters July as an unsigned free agent in search of his next team. A skilled possession receiver, he will begin the 2025 season with 974 career receptions — 26 shy of becoming the 16th player in NFL history with 1,000 catches.

Keenan Allen at Cal | Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

At Cal: Allen caught a program-record 205 passes for 2,570 yards (third-most) and 17 touchdowns. His breakout season was in his sophomore year of 2011 when he made 98 receptions for 1,343 yards and six TDs to collect first-team All-Pac-10 honors. Over a three-game stretch that season, Allen had 32 catches for 527 yards and two TDs but the Bears lost all three games and were 14-19 over his three seasons. Allen also had a punt return for a touchdown at Cal, was 3 for 3 passing with another TD and scored twice on rushes.

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