CHARGERS TRADE WR KEENAN ALLEN TO THE CHICAGO BEARS, RESTRUCTURE PASS RUSHERS KHALIL MACK & JOEY BOSA
The Los Angeles Chargers have traded six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen to the Chicago Bears, as first reported by Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer late Thursday night.
The Bears sent their 2024 fourth-round pick (110th overall) in exchange for the former Cal U Golden Bear in another bid to improve the overall quality of their roster. Chicago has sixth-year wide receiver DJ Moore as their most reliable wide receiver and improve that room with Allen’s addition.
“We’re extremely excited to add Keenan to our team,” said Bears General Manager Ryan Poles. “His body of work speaks for itself and we look forward to him elevating our offense.”
According to Spotrac, Allen is due a $5 million roster bonus on Monday, March 18th. The 2017 consensus Comeback Player of the Year is entering the final season of his four-year, $80.1 million contract extension, which he signed in 2020 and could still hit the open market next year and receive another deal.
As per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Chargers approached Allen about a pay cut on Thursday, which he declined, hence the deal with Chicago. Los Angeles freed up $23.1 million of cap space by making the trade.
The Chargers were roughly $29 million over the cap and had to become cap compliant before Wednesday’s 4pm ET deadline and did so by first releasing veteran wide receiver Mike Williams. They then got further under the cap via the trade with Chicago and also restructuring the contracts of star pass rushers Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Khalil Mack took a $4.25 million pay cut, and moved from $23.25 million to $19 million. Mack’s new contract added the caveat of preventing him from being franchise tagged in 2025.
As for Bosa, he took a $7 million cut, taking his 2024 salary from $22 million to $15 million. His salary is now fully guaranteed, however, and he can earn back $4 million through sack incentives. His $8.36 million roster bonus due on the third day of the 2025 league year was also increased to $12.36 million and moved up to the first day, forcing an earlier and more expensive decision.
All four moves are estimated to have saved the Chargers around $67 million in cap space. Los Angeles is believed to now be $38 million under the cap with the restructuring of Mack and Bosa saving them around $24 million in cap space and another $11.25 million in cash.
The Chargers released a statement from President of Football Operations, John Spanos, in which he spoke about Keenan Allen: “What Keenan Allen has meant to the Chargers for more than a decade cannot adequately be expressed through mere words. Keenan’s impact lives in the hearts of our fans, in the communities which he has served and amongst the countless teammates who have formed a brotherhood with him. There will only be one Keenan Allen, and we cannot thank him enough for the contributions he has made to our organization, both on and off the field.”
Allen had five consecutive Pro Bowl selections between 2017 and 2021, and currently holds the Chargers’ franchise records in receptions (904) and receiving yards (10,530) amongst wide receivers. The 31-year-old surpassed 900 receptions faster than any player in NFL history, doing so last year, in just his 139th career game.
Allen is set to reunite with wide receivers coach Chris Beatty in Chicago. Beatty coached the same position with the Chargers from 2021 to 2023 and helped the 11-year veteran notch the second-best output of his career last year with 1,243 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
With Allen and Williams now gone, the Chargers 2024 wide receiver room currently consists of last year’s first-round pick Quentin Johnston, third-year wide receivers Josh Palmer and Simi Fehoko, and rookie Derius Davis. Los Angeles has the fifth overall pick in the draft and could very much be in the mix for a wide receiver.
Some of the best prospects in the draft at receiver include OSU’s Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s Malik Nabers, Washington’s Rome Odunze, LSU’s Brian Thomas Jr., Oregon’s Troy Franklin, Georgia’s Ladd McConkey, Texas’ Adonai Mitchell, and FSU’s Keon Coleman.
As for the Bears, Allen is now their seventh addition this offseason so far, joining RB D’Andre Swift, former Chargers TE Gerald Everett, S Kevin Byard, C Coleman Shelton, and DB Jonathan Owens. Chicago owns the no.1 and no.9 overall picks in April’s draft and are expected to take a big step forward roster-wise heading into the 2024 playing season.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Greg Buch. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.