Bears agree to bombshell trade landing 6-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen
The Chicago Bears have agreed to a bombshell trade with the Los Angeles Chargers that will put the entire league on notice. The Bears will be trading their 2024 fourth-round pick to the Chargers in exchange for six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen, according to Jay Glazer. Chicago will now be adding a top […]
The Chicago Bears have agreed to a bombshell trade with the Los Angeles Chargers that will put the entire league on notice.
The Bears will be trading their 2024 fourth-round pick to the Chargers in exchange for six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen, according to Jay Glazer.
Chicago will now be adding a top wide receiver in the NFL for the second straight off-season by pairing Allen with 2023 acquisition DJ Moore.
"We're extremely excited to add Keenan to our team," Bears general manager Ryan Poles said. "His body of work speaks for itself and we look forward to him elevating our offense."
Allen has played his entire 11-year NFL career with the Chargers and now will be moving on to a new team for the first time in his career. The 31-year-old wide receiver recently noted that his intention was to remain in Los Angeles and even restructured his contract to free up $8.9 million earlier this week.
"I don't want to go nowhere else," Allen said in January. "I've been here 10 years, like you said, the longest guy on the team, so I'm not looking forward to anything else."
Instead, the Chargers will be moving on from their franchise legend and Allen will be joining the Bears' offense that has been overhauled so far this offseason.
Along with Allen, the Bears' front office has already added running back D'Andre Swift and tight end Gerald Everett in free agency to the group that already features Moore and tight end Cole Kmet. On top of that, the Bears are armed with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and are widely expected to draft USC quarterback Caleb Williams to be the team's next franchise quarterback.
Allen is coming off a 1,243 yard season where he hauled in a Chargers' franchise-record 108 receptions and seven touchdowns. The Bears were heavily interested in the wide receiver market this offseason to land another weapon alongside Moore and general manager Ryan Poles went all in to catch the big fish.
"We don't have a lot of depth there, first of all," head coach Matt Eberflus said at the NFL Combine. "That's the first part; adding some dynamic pieces there through free agency or through the draft potentially, so to me when you're trying to defend that, when you have a weapon at tight end and you have a weapon at the X receiver like DJ. When you add a piece or two to the other side, it really balances you out. It's hard to defend."
Allen will reunite with Bears' new wide receivers coach Chris Beatty who will be joining Matt Eberflus' staff this season after spending the last three seasons as wide receivers coach for the Chargers. Beatty has plenty of experience working with two high-end receivers after Allen and recently released Mike Williams each had 1,000+ yards and 5+ touchdowns together in 2021.
Moore and Allen each respectfully went over 1,200 yards during the 2023 season and hopes are high that the new duo could replicate that level of success on the same field. The last time the Bears had two 1,000 yard wide receivers in the same season was Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall in 2013.
The Bears are going all in on offense to build around their potential new quarterback and the rest of the league should be afraid of what Poles is building in Chicago.
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