The Chicago Bears made a huge splash on Thursday night, making a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers for veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen. The Bears take on Allen’s $23 million cap hit for the 2024 season, sending Los Angeles back a fourth-round pick in exchange.
The move caught many people by surprise, as Allen has spent his entire 10-year career up to this point with the Chargers. The wide receiver has six Pro Bowl seasons under his belt, and is coming off a 2023 where he had 1,243 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in 13 games.
Allen gives Chicago a veteran receiver to pair with DJ Moore ahead of their likely selection quarterback Caleb Williams with the first pick of the 2024 NFL draft. On the flip side, the Chargers are now without both of their top receivers, having also released Mike Williams, as new coach Jim Harbaugh tries to rebuild the team.
Therefore, fans on social media had plenty to say about the trade.
Keenan Allen is the PERFECT safety blanket WR to help develop a young QB. He gets open in the rhythm and timing of the play allowing the QB to be more confident reading with his feet and getting the ball out on time. Great leader. Fields or Williams will LOVE HIM and DJ Moore. pic.twitter.com/8VmcYNkEYL
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 15, 2024
Fun fact: Keenan Allen has *more than twice* as many receiving yards in his career (10,530) as anyone in Bears history.
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) March 15, 2024
Justin Fields had Darnell Mooney and dusty Allen Robinson for his rookie year and the next rookie quarterback for Chicago is going to have DJ Moore and Keenan Allen. At least they learned their lesson.
— JJ Zachariason (@LateRoundQB) March 15, 2024
Billy, this is Keenan Allen. In just 13 games last year, he caught 108 balls for 1,243 yards and 7 TDs. He is open more than a 7/11. His defect: Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman don’t believe in the forward pass, so we can get him for a fourth-round pick… pic.twitter.com/MDjA57kqas
— Dwain McFarland (@dwainmcfarland) March 15, 2024
48 hours ago:
QB – Justin Herbert
RB – Austin Ekeler
WR – Keenan Allen
WR – Mike Williams
TE – Gerald Everett
Today:
QB – Justin Herbert
RB – Gus Edwards
WR – Quentin Johnston
WR – Joshua Palmer
TE – Will Dissly
Jim Harbaugh raising eyebrows in LA
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) March 15, 2024
the Chargers absolutely whiffed on Quentin Johnston in the first round last year
now they lost Keenan Allen & Mike Williams due to massive cap hits
so their 2024 WR room currently is:
Quentin Johnston
Josh Palmer
Derius Davis
Simi Fehoko
and they have NO OTHER WRs rostered
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) March 15, 2024
Allen ends his Chargers career as the best wide receiver in franchise history and one of only two players to hit over 10,000 receiving yards with the team, joining legendary tight end Antonio Gates.
The trade is a sign that the Bears intend to take the next step towards winning, while the Chargers had to make some tough choices to clean up their cap space. In the end, Chicago acquiring Allen represents one of the biggest moves of the offseason thus far.
