Keenan Allen Fantasy News and Statistics

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen’s high school graduation was met with a lot of hype. He was a US Army All-American his senior year and a five-star recruit both as a wide receiver and as a defensive back. The California Golden Bears were eager to pick him up as a recruit, and he had an immediate impact on the football team.

In Allen’s first year, the Golden Bears did not throw at an exceptionally high rate, yet he was still able to come in and establish himself as the team’s No. 2 wide receiver his freshman year. Only Marvin Jones was ahead of him. Allen had a strong debut, making four catches for 120 yards and a touchdown in a blowout win over UC Davis. On the year, he had 46 catches for 490 yards and five touchdowns.

With Zach Maynard under center in 2011, the Golden Bears started to throw more during Allen’s sophomore year, and he excelled with more targets. He was able to beat out Jones for the No. 1 receiver spot, and he amassed at least 100 receiving yards in five of the first six games of the season. Allen finished the year with 98 catches, 1,343 receiving yards and six touchdown grabs. He was named to the Pac-12 First Team as a result of that strong campaign.

Allen was poised for an outstanding 2012 season, but he tore his ACL in late October, so he was forced to miss the last few games of the year. That hurt his draft stock because he was not 100 percent when he ran his 4.71 40-yard dash. Even so, the San Diego Chargers liked what they saw and invested a third-round draft pick in him.

Allen started his NFL career deep on the Chargers depth chart behind Eddie Royal, Vincent Brown, Malcom Floyd and Danario Alexander. Injuries to Floyd and Alexander opened up the opportunity for Allen to earn some playing time, though, and he broke through with back-to-back 100-yard performances against the Oakland Raiders and Indianapolis Colts. In each game, he had a touchdown reception. From there, he established himself as a serious deep threat for quarterback Philip Rivers and had five 100-yard performances on the year. By the end of it, Allen had 71 catches for 1,046 yards and eight touchdowns on 105 targets.

In his second year in the league, Allen’s 67.6 percent catch rate inevitably dropped as well as his 14.7 yards per catch average. Even so, he had a productive year with 77 catches for 783 yards and four touchdowns.

Over the 2015 and 2016 campaigns, Allen was met with some serious bad luck. Midway through 2015, he underwent surgery after he lacerated his kidney. When he came back in 2016, he tore his ACL the first week of the season. As a result, he has only played in nine games over the past two seasons.

For 2017, though, Allen is once again fully healthy and listed as the top receiver on the Chargers depth chart. As long as he and Rivers both stay healthy, there is no reason why he should not be able to produce at the same level he did pre-injuries—and possibly even better.