Keenan Allen Signs 4-Year Extension

[Topcat]

Great news! 2nd highest wideout salary in the league...at least in this case, we can't say the Spani shortchanged KA...

[jamrock]

Slayer indeed. Can’t be covered.

[La Costa Boy]

This is an ear to ear smile kind of deal. Hell YEAH TT!!!!

[Xenos]

Popper's July article on how underrated KA is. Hard to paste the entire article because of so many graphics and pictures. It would have been nice to list the stat comparisons but just became a mess that I didn't want to deal with.So this is the best I can do unfortunately.

https://theathletic.com/1963369/2020/07/30/why-the-chargers-keenan-allen-is-one-of-the-most-underrated-players-in-the-nfl/

After tearing his ACL in the 2016 season opener, Keenan Allen decided to make a change. An encouraging start to his NFL career had fizzled out because of injuries. He missed eight games in 2015 with a kidney injury and all but one game the following season with that severe knee injury. Allen realized he wasn’t doing enough. He wasn’t maximizing his talent. So he adopted a mantra that has come to define him as a player: Availability and Consistency.

“Just getting hurt back to back,” Allen told me last year about where the catchphrase came from. “Not being available, not being able to make plays for the team, not being able to be consistent. I just tried to control everything that I can and try to be out there.”

He altered his weight room routine. He started getting in shape earlier in the offseason. “Just staying in shape pretty much all year round,” as he described it.

The results are undeniable. Allen has been, without question, one of the most productive receivers in the league over the last three seasons. He has made three straight Pro Bowls and won Comeback Player of the Year in 2017.

Consider this: Only two players have an active streak of at least three straight seasons with 90-plus catches, 1,100-plus yards and at least six touchdowns. Allen is one. DeAndre Hopkins is the other.

I included a similar stat in my mailbag last week. The only two players with an active streak of at least three seasons with 97-plus catches and 1,100-plus yards are Allen and Michael Thomas. I got some pushback on Twitter for cherry-picking stats, which I think is missing the point. But the first one I listed above is hard to argue with, in my opinion.

Allen should be in the conversation as a top-five wide receiver in the NFL. And yet he consistently gets overlooked when this conversation happens. In the recent Top 100 players list released by NFL Network — which is voted on by players — Allen was ranked as the 14th-best receiver in the NFL and the 77th player overall. CBS ranked Allen as the seventh-best receiver in the NFL. He ended up eighth in ESPN’s rankings of the top 10 receivers, which polled more than 50 executives, coaches, scouts and players. Chris Simms laughably left Allen off his clickbait top-10 list altogether.

Is Keenen Allen underrated?


Based solely on his numbers, I believe the answer to this question is a resounding yes.

Since 2017, Allen is fourth in the league in receiving yards, third in receptions and 18th in touchdowns.

But the touchdowns stat needs some context. Allen is one of only six receivers to have six or more touchdowns in each of the last three seasons. It goes back to consistency. And I’m not sure, on a broader scale, that consistency garners the same kind of attention and respect as huge single-season performances, like, say, Godwin’s nine touchdowns in 2019. Allen hasn’t had more than six touchdowns in a season since 2013.

That’s not Allen’s game, though. He is not an elite receiver in terms of his explosiveness. His 8.53 yards per target since 2017 rank 32nd in the league. And his 46 receptions of 20 or more yards are tied for 10th.

Allen is not going to finish any season with the most touchdowns in the league. He is going to have a hard time finishing with the most yards because he’s not beating defenses over the top or breaking off a flurry of long gains. He is not going to make the flashiest plays. But what he will do — and what he has done — is produce at an extremely high level year after year in crucial situations.

Third-down conversions are one of the most important aspects of offense in the NFL — probably second only to red-zone offense. Offenses have to extend drives to win games. And Allen has been better than anyone in football at that exact thing since 2017: His 70 first-down conversion receptions on third down are the most in that span.

The 13 receivers ranked ahead of Allen on the Top 100 list are: the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald (69), the Seahawks’ Tyler Lockett (65), the Browns’ Jarvis Landry (61), the Browns’ Odell Beckham Jr. (59), the Packers’ Davante Adams (57), the Bills’ Stefon Diggs (54), the Cowboys’ Amari Cooper (49), Godwin (38), Evans (30), Hill (22), the Falcons’ Julio Jones (11), DeAndre Hopkins (8) and the Saints’ Michael Thomas (5).

My main takeaway here: Thomas, Hopkins and Jones are the clear-cut best three receivers in the league — and I don’t think that’s arguable — but after them, it really is very debatable. Allen should unquestionably be in the conversation for that spot. He’s not as explosive as Hill, Diggs, Cooper, Evans, Godwin, Beckham or Adams, but he does certain things, such as converting difficult third downs, at a much higher level. Allen is not a fast receiver by NFL standards. His production comes from the best route-running in football, otherworldly anticipation and a unique feel for the leverages of opposing defenders. And his availability, as he hasn’t missed a game in that last three seasons. He has made himself into one of the game’s best receivers through his work ethic and his devotion to technique, without upper-echelon athletic ability.

One other note: Godwin has only been in the league for three seasons, so his cumulative stats are lacking because of that. He broke out in 2019 with 86 catches for 1,333 yards and those nine touchdowns. But I need to see that kind of production over multiple seasons before I rank him 39 spots ahead of Allen, who has proven production.

Ranking Allen seventh is palatable. Ranking him eighth is questionable. Ranking him 14th in insulting.

Why is Keenan Allen so underappreciated?


By now, I hope I have convinced you that Allen is a severely underrated player. (Not that any of you Chargers fans needed convincing.) So now let’s move onto the second component of our conversation.

If Allen has been one of the five most productive receivers in football since 2017, why isn’t he recognized as such?

To me, this boils down to three primary reasons:

1. Allen has risen to prominence with Philip Rivers as his starting quarterback. Rivers was the face of the franchise and the team’s biggest national star before signing with the Colts this offseason, and I think that took some luster away from Allen. A lot of football people, players included, will point to Rivers, a probable Hall of Famer, and say Allen is only so good because of the guy throwing him the football. I can understand this argument. Rivers’ best attribute is his anticipation, and Allen benefited greatly from that, especially when we’re talking about third-down conversions. But to argue this point is to take away from what makes Allen great. Rivers could only make those throws because Allen was spinning defensive backs around and gaining separation on the breaks of his routes.
2. Allen is not a particularly flashy player at a position that features some of the flashiest and most exciting players in the league. What is going to get more notoriety: a precise slant route out of the slot on third-and-3 for a four-yard gain, or a 60-yard touchdown bomb over the top? Of course the long touchdown will. But Allen could very well convert three third downs on one drive and set up an easy touchdown run. Very few will point to those conversions when rehashing games on Mondays. Virtually everyone, though, will be talking about the touchdown. I’m not saying the two are equivalent. Still, there is immense value in what Allen does, week in and week out.
3. Allen played the first four years of his career in the small market of San Diego, and his next three seasons for a team trying to gain a foothold in one of the most fickle spots markets in the country, Los Angeles. I don’t think this is the biggest factor, but it certainly plays a part in how much national recognition Allen gets.

In the end, I will leave you with the words of Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn, who was asked this week about Allen being underrated and what else he has to do to prove his value.

“I don’t think he has to do anything with us,” Lynn said. “We know Keenan’s value. He’s a big receiver that can play inside and outside. He’s an excellent blocker in the run game. His run-after-catch is outstanding. Some people may knock him a little bit on his long speed. But he’s a very confident young man and very productive. So he doesn’t have to prove anything to us.”

Allen is in the last year of his contract. He is in line for a big extension. And the Chargers are the ones who will be making the decision on Allen’s true value by how much they pay him.

That’s all that matters.

[PR#1]

What are people doing for Keenan in fantasy?

His numbers were really bad last week.

[AK47]

What are people doing for Keenan in fantasy?

His numbers were really bad last week.

I have Mike Williams.........keeping him on bench as wait and see approach.