Former Teammate Sees Flaw in Keenan Allen's Game

Cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who played two seasons with the Chargers, felt his old team did the right thing by trading Keenan Allen to the Bears.

Oct 1, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen (13) / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

With teammates like that, who needs opponents?

New Bears receiver Keenan Allen wasn't exactly treated by one former teammate with the respect normally accorded veteran standout receivers, especially when teammates are involved.

Former Broncos, Chargers and Saints cornerback Chris Harris Jr. was asked on the Let's Ride podcast about the trade by the Chargers of Allen to the Bears and cited the money as a big reason why it wasn't a bad move for L.A. to make a deal. If he had simply stopped at the cash, no one probably would have batted an eyelash. A $23 million cap hit for a 32-year-old receiver is quite a bit.

"Oh, yeah. I think it definitely was a smart move by the Chargers, you know," Harris said. "His cap number was, I mean, high, you know, $20 million think, almost $30 million."

Harris didn't stop there, however.

"He's going to get you a lot of catches, and a lot of possessions. Right?" he said. "But he doesn't find the end zone. He's not scoring 10-plus touchdowns a year. Right? So I would think that's good, that's a solid trade to be able to get a fourth round (pick). There's a lot of weapons, a lot of receivers in this draft and you know, I think Keenan was a fourth-rounder, and they developed him."

Harris was teammates with Allen in 2020 and 2021. He's had less than six touchdown catches only once in the last seven years and has 59 for his career.

Allen has 904 receptions for 10,530 yards.

It's something to watch for when the Bears begin the regular season.

For being dispensible, Allen did rate fairly high with the analytics crowd. ESPN analytics ranked him the eighth-best receiver last year, four behind DJ Moore.

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