WR Keenan Allen - Los Angeles Chargers
6-2, 206 Born: 4-27-1992 College: California Drafted: Round 3, pick 2013
Photo: Jeff Hanisch, US Presswire
All WR vs
16 vs OAK 53 1 -5 0 10 5.0 71 0 0 6.6
17 at KC 72 0 0 0 10 9.0 82 1 0 14.2
Weekly Performance vs WR 1, WR 12, WR 24, WR 36
2019 2018 2017 2015 2014 2013 PPR Non-PPR
Keenan Allen's percentile rank in each category, among WR with more than 50 fantasy points.
2019 Week 17 vs KC (10 / 9 / 82 / 1 rec)
Allen did most of his damage early on, as the Chargers shifted the focus of the passing game to the running backs and tight ends after halftime. But in the early portions of the game, Allen was very busy. A few early slants and crossing routes over the middle quickly got him involved, and a tough touchdown catch along the end zone sideline gave him exactly six touchdowns for the third consecutive season. Allen went up high and managed to get both feet down inbounds despite the defender shoving him out of bounds. Late in the first half, a quick out to Allen got him over 100 receptions for the season. After a quiet third quarter, Allen came out in the fourth with a big reception over the middle to pick up 13 yards on a 3rd and 13 pass play. That one broke the Chargers team record for receptions in a single season. Despite some random disappearing acts at times, Allen once again turned in a very consistent campaign and his stats are always pretty much in line with expectations.
2019 Week 16 vs OAK (10 / 5 / 71 / 0 rec, 1 / -5 / 0 rush)
Allen's stat line looks solid, as has been the case much of the year. It just wasn't terribly explosive. He's become a very high floor, low ceiling type of fantasy player over the last 3/4 of the season. He had an opportunity to add a touchdown to his moderate stat line, but he stumbled after making the catch and ended up just shy. Rivers flipped him a floater to the right side, and Allen darted to the corner of the end zone. Unfortunately, he slipped at the 3-yard line and ended up down inside the 1-yard line. Melvin Gordon scored on the next play. Allen was later targeted along the back line of the end zone on a jump ball, but the defender made a great play to knock it away. Curiously, Allen and Rivers seemed to be out of sync on a couple of occasions. Normally, the two veterans are totally in sync. But on one pass play, Allen appeared to not even realize the ball had been thrown to him. It hit the defender's hands, Allen nearly caught it, and eventually it fell incomplete. But he didn't even turn his head or finish his route. There was also some mis-timing on a pass play over the middle later on where Allen went to one spot and Rivers threw to another. The two did connect on a nice 20-yard gain late where Rivers put it right on Allen's hands and perfectly in stride, but those plays have been few and far between.
2019 Week 15 vs MIN (10 / 9 / 99 / 0 rec)
After taking something of a back seat to the likes of Austin Ekeler, Mike Williams, and Hunter Henry in recent weeks, Allen was extremely busy in this one. He led all players in both targets and receptions, and was involved in all facets of the Los Angeles passing game. On several occasions, he and Rivers looked to be very much in sync, with several passes being thrown before Allen had even started his break and the ball being right where the receiver was. This may be the last few games the two will play together as there have been rumors of Rivers potentially being let go after the season, but it was clear in this game that some of that rapport is still there. Allen attacked the defense both along the sidelines and over the middle of the field with his patented comeback and crossing routes. On Allen's best chance to score, Rivers fired a pass his way in the end zone on a slant. Allen appeared to be open on the play, but he slipped coming out of his break and the ball sailed past him for an incompletion. Despite a relatively lackluster finish to the season (for him), Allen still went over 1,000 yards receiving for the third straight year and fourth time overall.
2019 Week 14 vs JAX (6 / 5 / 83 / 0 rec)
Allen did his primary work on his first reception, shaking loose on a crossing route for a big 45-yard catch-and-run up the right sideline. Allen later drew a penalty in the end zone to give the Chargers the ball at the goal line, so at least he was being targeted on potential scoring plays. Late in the half, Allen showed excellent awareness and field vision and a seemingly innocent play. He caught a short pass with a defender coming up behind him. Rather than spinning outside or directly into the tackle, the knew enough to circulate his route to gain space and vision so that he could then turn upfield for the first down. It was subtle, but it was such a heady play. In the second half, he made a tough catch to register a first down on a ball thrown behind him. But he was largely quiet the rest of the way as the Jaguars tried to play catch-up and the Chargers mostly grinded it out with such a big lead.
2019 Week 13 vs DEN (6 / 6 / 68 / 1 rec)
Allen had a mostly quiet game, punctuated with one huge play. He got wide open deep downfield and Rivers connected with him on a floater down the sideline, Allen racing up the field before leaping into the end zone at the end of the play. He was hit as he jumped, sending his body twirling up in the air before coming down in the field of play with a 36-yard score. Allen's other five receptions went for a total of just 32 yards. One of those receptions, however, came early in the second half and represented Allen passing legendary receiver Lance Alworth for fifth place on the all time Charger list for receptions.
Allen was targeted twice on the opening drive, both for minimal yardage. The second one was from the 10-yard line, but never had a chance to get into the end zone. Soon after, he picked up 30 on an in and out move when the defender bit hard on the inside cut. He took off up the left side for big yardage after the catch. Rivers again looked Allen's way at the 3-yard line, but Allen was drilled upon getting the ball in his hands and it was jarred loose. Even if he had held on, he would have been down at the 3 and not in the end zone. He was helped off the field with the help of the training staff after the hard hit. He did eventually return and was actually targeted on a deep ball in the end zone. He was essentially triple-covered on the play and still almost came down with the pass, but it fell incomplete. In the second half, he made a terrific diving grab stretching out to pick up a much-needed first down late in the third quarter. He capped that drive by snagging a bullet pass in a tight space and then lunging into the end zone. Hunter Henry followed with a two point conversion that cut the deficit to seven points, but the Chargers wouldn't get any closer than that.
2019 Week 10 vs OAK (11 / 8 / 68 / 0 rec, 1 / 18 / 0 rush)
Allen finally saw the biggest workload of the Charger receivers again, but oddly he still wasn't able to really break out for that big game that has been lacking now since Week 3. On Allen's first two targets of the game, the ball was intercepted. On the first one, Allen was bumped along the sideline and the ball popped up in the air to the waiting arms of a defender (the Chargers were bailed out when the Raiders were whistled for pass interference). On the second one, Allen was wide open near the end zone but the pass from Philip Rivers simply sailed over his head for the easy pick. Soon after, Allen was given a direct handoff out of the backfield, and picked up 18 yards up the right side. Later in the drive, he made a short grab inside the 5-yard line and managed to get inside the 3 for the first down, but was nowhere close to the end zone. In the second half, he showed nice hands on a ball thrown a bit behind him to pick up seven yards and again get the team down to the 7-yard line. But once again, once they got close to the end zone Allen was an afterthought. Late in the fourth quarter, Allen picked up 30 yards on a crossing route to the left side but it was negated by a holding penalty against the Chargers. It's unlikely that the play would have been made without the hold to give Rivers time to find Allen. And Allen somewhat made up for that by picking up first down yardage on the ensuing play. The 68 yards were the most Allen has had since Week 3, but he still hasn't gone over 70 yards or a score now in the last seven games.
2019 Week 9 vs GB (4 / 3 / 40 / 0 rec)
Allen started the year on fire, with 29 receptions for 404 yards and three touchdowns over the first three weeks of the season. After several quiet games, owners were eager to expect him to break out again. But after Week 9, they are still waiting for that return to form. Despite the Chargers having very little trouble moving the ball through the air, Allen was again something of an afterthought. In the six games since that hot start, Allen has totaled 25 receptions for 253 yards without a score. He had a nice gain over the middle early in the first half, leaping between defenders for a 20-yard pickup. And he picked up another handful of shorter receptions as the game went along. But he saw just four targets as opposed to ten for Hunter Henry, who has seemingly supplanted Allen as the favorite target of Philip Rivers. Allen has simply disappeared for long stretches of gameplay over the last several weeks, without much explanation for why. Allen lost seven rushing yards after a holding penalty negated an end-around gain up the right side.
2019 Week 8 vs CHI (10 / 7 / 53 / 0 rec)
Allen had a very busy afternoon, although not a very successful one. He was questionable to play coming in with a hamstring issue, and most observers felt he wasn't going to play. Once it was announced that he was playing, reports came with the caveat that he may be on a "limited snap count". Instead, Allen played the entire game and didn't really look any worse for wear in terms of any injury issues. About the only thing that looked out of the ordinary was the fact that he inexplicably fell down three times during the course of the game. The announcers speculated that he may have had the wrong shoes on, or that it could have been weakness in the hamstring. Whatever the reason, he fell down on his first target which nearly resulted in a Chicago interception. He then stumbled for the second time in three targets going over the middle on a play that could have gone for over twenty yards. Early in the second quarter, he converted the first Chargers first down of the game, moving well across the field with ease. Late in the game, he took an inside screen with blockers in front of him for a meager three yards. The reason why that play is noteworthy, is because he again stumbled just as he tried turning up the field (the play probably could have gone for 8-10 yards or more). Finally, he was targeted on a deep ball in the end zone that would have given the Chargers the lead. His defender mis-timed his jump and Allen had the ball sitting in his hands if he just secured the pass, but he allowed it to bounce off his forearms for a terrible drop. After the game, Allen apologized to fantasy owners on Twitter, letting them know that he "owes them".
2019 Week 7 vs TEN (11 / 4 / 61 / 0 rec)
Allen continued his shockingly quiet 2019 campaign with yet another substandard (for him) performance. He didn't play particularly poorly, but once again took a back seat to both Austin Ekeler and Hunter Henry in the passing game. Allen got open down the sideline on the first play of the game and Rivers fired him a bullet pass, but the defender made a tremendous break in closing back to the ball and deflecting it away. Soon after, Allen again got open over the middle. Rivers went high with the pass and Allen got a hand on it, but was unable to bring it in as he came down to the field. He finally made his first catch with just under four minutes left in the first quarter, a sliding grab over the middle for a nice gain. He then converted a long third down pass play by going high over the middle and shielding out the defender for the first down grab. Allen showed his athleticism on two catches close to one another, the first a tough sideline grab where he managed to drag his back foot along the sideline. And the second was ruled a catch along the sideline, but it was reviewed. Replays appeared to show his second foot missing the field, but officials presumably ruled that the bottom of his foot scraped across the grass. That catch put the ball inside the 5-yard line as Allen tried reaching out for the pylon, but didn't quite get there. But that was really the extent of Allen's involvement. He had a rare second half drop on one pass, and was the target of a 50-50 ball in the end zone on a sideline route, but the defender knocked it away and it never really had a chance.
2019 Week 6 vs PIT (6 / 2 / 33 / 0 rec)
Allen was curiously quiet in this game after destroying the Steelers last year. He was the target on Philip Rivers first deflected interception, had a catch in the first half off of play action, another in the second half when Rivers moved up in the pocket, but overall was quiet and barely noticeable in this loss.
2019 Week 5 vs DEN (6 / 4 / 18 / 0 rec)
On a day where Philip Rivers threw 48 pass attempts, it is extremely surprising that the team's number on receiving option saw just six targets. Much of that had to do with the Denver defensive scheme, with clearly game-planned to remove Allen as the man to beat them. He made a couple of nice grabs early on, but watched as Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler saw the lion's share of the passing game targets. Allen also had some rare miscues of his own. On one deep cross, Allen had a step on his defender, but he and Rivers weren't on the same page (Allen ran far but Rivers threw it underneath). And later, Allen had a rare drop on a sideline crossing route where he tried turning upfield before actually securing the ball. Aside from the miscues, Allen was really nowhere to be found despite the Chargers trailing the entire day.
The Chargers were without a number of key contributors on offense coming into this game. That could have meant that the team would feed Allen more than usual. But it could also mean that the defense would key on him more than anyone else. This story line turned out to be the latter. Allen saw just six targets the entire game. Four different Chargers caught passes on the opening drive, but Allen didn't see a single one. His first touch was actually a handoff to the right side, so the team was at least trying to get him involved. He did manage to turn in some key receptions, including a huge third down conversion over the middle where he leapt high in the air to convert it. And another one picking up 20 yards on a 2nd and 21 in the second half where hf found a soft spot in the zone with four Miami defenders in the area. Allen nearly scored on a dumpoff in the flat, but two defenders managed to force him out at the 2-yard line before he could get in. Allen's biggest play of the game was one that didn't actually count. He snagged a wide open 69-yard touchdown reception up the right side, but part of the reason he was so wide open is because he was whistled for offensive pass interference on the play, negating the score. Replays show it may have been a bit of a dubious call, although there certainly was contact made on the play.
2019 Week 3 vs HOU (17 / 13 / 183 / 2 rec, 1 / 3 / 0 rush)
Keenan Allen consistently dominated the Houston secondary in a loss on Sunday. Allen again peppered with targets and got his production all over the field. Houston gave Allen huge cushions on routes that led to big gains, but he also made multiple contested catches and created separation against press coverage. Allen created separation on his first touchdown on an out route in the red zone and made a defender miss after the catch on another red zone target that he scored on. Mike Williams has a role in the offense, but with little tight end presence and not much of a threat outside of Williams from the receiving corps, Allen is locked into a huge target share in the offense. He has the potential to overwhelm Miami next week on the road.
2019 Week 2 vs DET (15 / 8 / 98 / 0 rec)
Keenan Allen was a target monster against the Lions, leading the game with 15. Allen was peppered throughout the game, making catches all over the field. He could have had a bigger day but was overthrown twice by Philip Rivers. Allen got easy separation from defenders throughout the game. He was targeted in double coverage on a bad interception by Philip Rivers at the end of the game. With Mike Williams nursing an injury and the offense without Hunter Henry and Melvin Gordon, Allen should see no shortage of targets next week against the Houston Texans.
2019 Week 1 vs IND (10 / 8 / 123 / 1 rec)
Allen was involved every which way in the passing game for the Chargers, and was a force from beginning to end. In the early portion of the game, it was Allen and Austin Ekeler getting nearly all of the passing game looks, with almost no involvement from any other player. And Allen was turning those opportunities into production. He made a terrific leaping grab for a touchdown with two defenders in the area (and one basically draped all over him). He did a great job using his body control to box out the defender, who actually appeared to have better position on the ball. But Allen boxed him out with his prolific catch radius to shield him from getting near the ball. After a mostly quiet third quarter, Allen got involved again in the early fourth quarter. A quick slant over the middle resulted in a 21-yard gain, and had a huge grab on third and 3 with the Chargers up by one score to get first down yardage. With the Chargers attempting the knockout punch, however, Rivers targeted Allen along the back line of the end zone for a potential touchdown. But the Indianapolis defender made a fantastic break on the football, picking it off one-handed and preventing the score. After the Colts tied and sent the game to overtime, Allen made an incredible catch that won't necessarily show up on the highlight reels. It was a low pass by Rivers, but Allen went lower to get his arms under the ball and pull it up to his chest. It was such a difficult catch, that every Colts defender in the area immediately signaled to the sideline to challenge the call since it seemed so unlikely that he had made a clean grab.
Los Angeles Chargers Team Links
Starting Stacks for Week 16
Scott Bischoff - December 19
The Best of Footballguys Week 5
Matt Waldman - October 4
The Sharp Report Week 5
Ryan Zamichieli - October 2
Starting Stacks for Week 4
Scott Bischoff - September 26
Ryan Zamichieli - September 19
Monday Injury Rounds: Preseason Week 2
Jene Bramel - August 19
The Gut Check No.479: 2019 Tiers And Confidence Levels (Updated 8/19)
Matt Waldman - August 15
The Gut Check No.478: The Devil's Advocate Top 50
Matt Waldman - August 6
Cracking FanDuel: Week 17
Devin Knotts - December 28
Hakeem Butler Could Prove to Be a Massive Value for the Arizona Cardinals
Robby Gal - April 27
Fabiano's post-draft five round fantasy mock draft
Michael Fabiano - May 8
BEST-BALL WR TIERS
John Daigle - May 9
Fantasy football mock drafts: Strategies from a 12-team PPR draft
Daniel Kelley - May 21
The return of WR Cooper Kupp is pivotal to the Los Angeles Rams' passing attack
Michael Manning - May 24
Fantasy football's most intriguing high-risk, high-reward candidates
Cory Bonini - May 24
The 2018 NFL Clutch Team
Ben Linsey - May 31
The Importance Of Targets Over The Middle
Bennie Contrino - June 10
The Path to a WR1 Fantasy Season: Mike Williams
Matthew Betz - June 10