The Chargers traded veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen to the Chicago Bears in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick next month, the team announced Thursday night. Allen had one of the finest seasons of his 11-year career in the NFL in 2023, hauling in a franchise-record 108 catches.
But when the Chargers gathered on Jan. 8 at their Costa Mesa headquarters to hold their exit meetings and clean out their lockers and say their goodbyes after a season that went haywire in so many ways, Allen pondered his uncertain future during a candid extended conversation with beat reporters.
Allen made it clear he hoped to end his career with the Chargers, the team that drafted him out of Cal in 2013, when the franchise still called San Diego home. He also indicated the future was not his to see. Or to control, given all that happened during the 2023 season.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Allen said on the day after the Chargers ended their season with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. “I’m not playing for a team I don’t want to play for. It is what it is. I’ve been playing this game long enough. I’m kind of solidified on that side. If it did come down to that, then adios amigos.”
Allen, 31, followed wide receiver Mike Williams out the door when details of the Chargers’ trade with the Bears were first revealed by Fox Sports, citing unnamed sources. The Chargers released Williams in a move that saved them $20 million, enabling the team to become salary cap compliant Wednesday.
The Chargers began last week roughly $20 million over the NFL’s salary cap of $255.4 million for the 2024 season and had until Wednesday to become compliant. They released linebacker Eric Kendricks and Williams and restructured the contracts of outside linebackers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack to get it done.
Allen declined to take a pay cut, according to a report from The Athletic, so the Chargers traded him to gain further cap relief. With him and Williams gone, the Chargers will have to pursue new targets for quarterback Justin Herbert in free agency and the draft on April 25-26-27 in Detroit.
The Chargers have nine picks in the draft, including the fifth overall selection.
Allen caught a Chargers record of 108 passes, breaking running back Austin Ekeler’s mark of 107 receptions, for 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns in only 13 games this past season, earning his sixth selection to the Pro Bowl. The Chargers finished last in the AFC West with a 5-12 record.
“What Keenan Allen has meant to the Chargers for more than a decade cannot adequately be expressed through mere words,” John Spanos, the Chargers’ president of football operations, said in a statement. “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.”
After the Chargers’ flurry of moves this week, they are nearly $27 million under the salary cap, according to figures compiled by the website overthecap.com, and that includes the salaries for the free-agent signings of running back Gus Edwards and tight end Will Dissly and the re-signing of safety Alohi Gilman.
The Chargers now have plenty of money to spend on free-agent upgrades to various positions, including center, cornerback and inside linebacker, if they choose to go that route, as well as covering future expenses for their draft picks and building a practice squad for next season.
