Veteran Wide Receiver Help for Bears Offense
The Bears have their complementary receiver.
He came from the Chargers in a bargain trade late Thursday and not through free agency.
Veteran receiver Keenan Allen is with the Bears now and it cost them one of their two fourth-round draft picks for this year, along with a lot of cash.
A six-time Pro Bowl player, Allen is 6-foot-2, 211 pounds and exactly what they need to complement wide receiver DJ Moore.
"We're extremely excited to add Keenan to our team," Bears general manager Ryan Poles said in a statement issued by the team. "His body of work speaks for itself and we look forward to him elevating our offense.”
Allen will be 32 years old next month. He made the Pro Bowl last season and has what many would regard as Pro Football Hall of Fame numbers for his career with 904 receptions and 10,530 yards as well as 59 touchdowns. He had 108 receptions last season for 1,243 yards, both career highs.
The Chargers needed to dump Allen because of his $23.1 million cap cost for 2024, including $5 million in prorated bonus.
It's the final year of his current contract. Because his contract is $18.1 million in cash, the Bears could actually extend him beyond this season and do it in a way to save money against this year's cap.
The Bears have one other fourth-round pick so they had what they needed to acquire him and gave up the 110th pick. But now they only have four picks in the 2024 NFL Draft: No. 1 and No. 9 in Round 1, one third-rounder (75) and one fourth-rounder (122).
Allen hasn't played a full season since 2019. He missed two games in 2020, one in 2021, seven in 2022 with a hamstring problem and four last season with a heel injury.
Last year Allen picked up the slack for the Chargers after the season-ending knee injury to wide receiver Mike Williams.
The maneuver by Bears GM Ryan Poles gives the Bears two high-quality Pro Bowl level receivers, presumably for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. They're still down one receiver. They also need pass rush help at defensive tackle and defensive end, presumably in the draft.
Some sort of trade seemed a matter of time because the Bears were sitting on about $44 million according to Overthecap.com. Their free agency signings had almost all been minor acquisitions for depth or were simply lower-cost players.
This trade could still allow the Bears to make a few more signings if they choose.
They could also get back traded picks with another trade, presumably of Fields.
The Bears have Allen's former receivers coach this year, Chris Beatty. He was also the wide receivers coach in college for Moore.
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