Welcome back to my new series of player previews for the 2024 NFL season, leading up to training camp. The Chicago Bears have a new quarterback and a mix of familiar faces on both offense and defense. Although the expectations aren’t as high as some seasons, they’re still quite optimistic given the team’s talent. In this series, I’ll provide quick previews and my season projections for many key players. Today we will focus on Keenan Allen. How much gas does the veteran WR have left in the tank?
Keenan Allen
2023 Stats: 108 Receptions (6th) | 1,243 yards (11th) | 7 TD (Tied-18th)
*Missed 4 games due to injury
If you looked up “consistency” in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of Keenan Allen. Despite missing four games in 2023, he had a career year in his 11th season. As a reliable possession receiver, he will be a valuable weapon in helping Caleb Williams adjust to the next level. At 32, Allen’s game is only getting better with age, like fine wine. He will challenge DJ Moore for WR1 status on the team but like I mentioned in my DJ Moore preview piece, Allen will not be the first WR to get to 1,000 yards on this roster. But I do believe he will get there.
2024 Projected Stats: 84 Receptions | 1,003 yards | 8 TD
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I believe Keenan Allen will thrive in Chicago. He’ll serve as a reliable target for Caleb Williams in his rookie season. While Allen may just barely reach 1,000 yards due to the team’s many offensive weapons, I still expect him to be a dominant force in the red zone.
Please share your thoughts on my stat projections and any other comments you might have, and I’ll do my best to reply.
Just putting it out there…The ideal situation for the Bears would be NOBODY gets 1000 yards. Before any of you show up at my house with torches and pitchforks, ponder this… Moore and Allen get 900+, Odunze and Kmet around 800 give or take, and Swift around 600ish??. That puts us at 4000 yards for the first time in our history, And that’s without even including Everett, Johnson and the other reserves pitching in. Who ya gonna cover! Probably not likely but also a distinct possibility. In that scenario, Caleb is Rookie of the year and we are in the… Read more »
Barring an unprecedented offensive explosion (like Williams throwing for 6000 yards), there’s no way that Moore, Allen, Odunze, and Kmet will all get the yards they deserve based on their skill levels. I just hope that we see the offense score a lot and punt very infrequently. I’ll give them 4 games to figure the offense out, and then they should be a dominant offensive group. But it would be fun if those four each approach 1000 yards.
Allen is a great player. However, he might become injured as the year wears on.
We shall see.
I think those stats are about right, providing he stays healthy. There’s a lot of fish to feed in Moore, Odunze, Allen, Kmet, and Everett. Then you have the RBs getting some targets in the passing game with Swift and RoJo. I doubt he has an “average” season like he was used to getting while playing for the Chargers because they didn’t have nearly the amount of weapons. Plus I think at least early on in the year, Waldron will go with a more basic game plan relying on the running game more and taking advantage of the play action… Read more »