Keenan Allen is now a Chicago Bear. The LA Chargers traded him away for a 4th round pick, to save $23.1 million in cap space. The team offered a restructure, but the University of California Golden Bears alum declined. Allen is, by receptions and yards, the best wide receiver in Chargers history.

Allen was a 3rd round draft pick and didn’t fully break out until his 5th season, the first in which he played in all of the Chargers’ scheduled games. In that season, 2017, Allen finished with 1393 receiving yards on 102 catches and 6 TDs, placing him as fantasy WR3. He followed 2017 with 4 straight seasons over 96 catches and over 990 yards, never being ranked outside of the PPR Top 14. An injury hampered his 2022 season, but Allen returned in 2023, at age 31, to Top 10 prominence with 108 catches and 1243 receiving yards in just 13 games.

Allen has been a solid wide receiver to draft in the early rounds, and a valuable fantasy asset, for the last 7 years, but has been injured the last two seasons and will arrive in Chicago with questions about reliability, where he fits in the WR room, and who his QB will be. Allen has been blessed to be a primary receiver for two big-arm quarterbacks in high volume offenses. Apart from backups, Allen has helped the fortunes of Philip Rivers, and been a veteran stud for young Justin Herbert. It is widely speculated that Chicago will use the first pick in the 2024 draft to select USC QB Caleb Williams, and also trying to find a trade partner for incumbent starter Justin Fields. Additionally, the Bears’ receiving corps includes Alpha dog DJ Moore, a Top 10 TE in Cole Kmet, and Chargers teammate Gerald Everett who is not necessarily fantasy relevant, but has been good for over 40 catches and 400 yards in each of the last 4 seasons.

Keenan Allen will be in the Gold Jacket conversation when his career is over.