Getting Keenan Allen was a stroke of good fortune for the Chicago Bears. There is no question he makes their offense immediately better. However, because fans are fans, they found something to complain about shortly after the trade happened. In this case, it is his age. Allen will be 32 years old this coming season. Thanks to trends that have gone on for years, people are conditioned to think NFL players become useless the moment they hit their 30th birthday despite a mountain of evidence suggesting otherwise.
Allen is one of the best route runners of his generation. Time has proven for decades that the receivers who last the longest in the NFL are the technicians of the game. If you wanted proof of this, here is a recap of some of the best to ever do it.
Ages the NFL’s best route runners had their last 1,000-yard seasons:
- Jerry Rice – 40
- Larry Fitzgerald – 34
- Terrell Owens – 35
- Marvin Harrison – 34
- Steve Smith – 35
- Isaac Bruce – 34
- Tim Brown – 35
- Reggie Wayne – 34
- Cris Carter – 35
- Charlie Joiner – 34
Presuming the player stays healthy, it is pretty clear he should remain productive until at least his age 34 season. If Allen follows the same path, he could give the Bears three more good seasons. That would be terrific value for the 4th round pick they gave up.
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The Keenan Allen dice roll comes down to health.
He missed seven games in 2022 and four games last year. So, there is an element of risk involved. That said, he remained highly productive even during those stretches. Besides, Allen overcame doubts about his health before. He missed large stretches of time in 2015 and 2016. Many felt he was a lost cause. Then, he only missed three games over the next five seasons. Injuries come down to luck more than anything else. All the Bears can do is get him prepared for Sundays and hope for the best.
One thing is for sure. Keenan Allen won’t be seeing tons of double coverage like in L.A. because defenses can’t afford to ignore D.J. Moore. More space might as well be cheating where he’s involved. It is one of the reasons Chicago likely felt so comfortable trading for him despite the age concerns. He won’t have to do the heavy lifting alone as he did for long stretches in L.A. Chicago has other options. If guys like Jerry Rice, Steve Smith, and Terrell Owens can excel despite switching teams late in their careers, there is no reason Allen can’t.
So now that the Chicago Bears roster average age is 26.7 years old — and above the NFL median — an “aging roster” is no a longer significant metric.
News Flash: It never was.
@Smokey Burgess, Agree 100%. I’m loyal to the end but it is understandable how some find loyalty hard when many professional sport team owners care much less about winning than the people whose money they’re taking.
“Fan are fans” – for the most part not true. In this era most “fans” are simply critics. Fans use to pull for teams like the Bears with Butkus and Sayers (it was truly their team no matter) and be defensive about anyone who criticized the haplessness. Now critics find something wrong with everything. There are very few fans left.
Sure, if he takes care of himself he could be productive to age 35 or a little later, but he is only under contract for one more season.
All of the players that Poles has acquired in the past week are on 1 or 2 year deals with the exception of Jaylon Johnson and D’Andre Swift.
Even with this signing, I still think the Bears need another good WR option. 11 packages want three WR, and I’m sure that either Moore or Allen will miss some games, so we need a WR3 (WR2 if Moore and Allen are WR1a and WR1b ?) who can fill in and be the 3rd guy when both are healthy. Wouldn’t be surprised if Poles has already earmarked the 3rd round pick for that (if he doesn’t trade it so that he can take day 2 of the draft off), assuming a player he likes is there.