The Los Angeles Rams are free to take a best-player-available approach to the 2025 draft. However, they could still bolster their roster in free agency. Despite the Rams’ signing Davante Adams, six-time Pro Bowler Keenan Allen could be a savvy addition.
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox listed the Rams as a potential “best fit” for Allen.
“Even if Allen isn’t the perennial Pro Bowler he once was, he’s a smart, experienced receiver with terrific route skills and dependable hands,” Knox wrote on March 23.
“Allen would be a solid fit with the Los Angeles Rams, who replaced Kupp with Davante Adams but also lost Demarcus Robinson in free agency. Allen’s ability to find space in the secondary would mesh extremely well with Sean McVay’s offense, and he’d be a terrific red-zone target for Matthew Stafford.”
Allen caught 70 passes for 744 yards and 7 touchdowns with the Chicago Bears in 2024. He started slow, with 30 receptions for 282 yards and 2 TDs over the first eight games of the season. Allen surged with a 32-412-5 line from Weeks 12 through 16 before a quiet finish.
Allen earned six Pro Bowl trips with the Los Angeles Chargers.
He remains available in free agency ahead of his 33rd birthday in April and amid a history of soft-tissue issues.
Keenan Allen Eyeing West Coast Return
GettyKeenan Allen #13 of Chicago Bears celebrates a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Allen spent the first 11 years of his career with the Chargers, and the Greensboro, North Carolina native played his college ball at California. Fittingly, Allen said he is either returning to the West Coast or staying with the Bears in 2025.
“It’s Chicago or I’m back to LA,” Allen told former Bears teammate Marcedes Lewis and David Kaplan on “The Big Dog Show” in November 2024. “We not going to another [team].”
Knox noted Allen’s “underwhelming” season came in an equally-regarded offense overall.
Allen was a Pro Bowler in 2023. He posted a 108-1243-7 line with the Chargers in 2023. With $132.9 million in career earnings, Allen could also make some financial concessions for an opportunity to win a championship.
Allen has been to the playoffs three times in his 12-year career and is 2-3 in those games. His last appearance was in 2022 with the Chargers.
Rams Deep at WR Without Keenan Allen
GettyKeenan Allen #13 of the Chicago Bears looks on before a game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Per SūmerSports, the Rams used 11 personnel – one running back, one tight end, and three wide receivers – at the second-highest rate in 2024, ranking behind only the Atlanta Falcons at 81.3% during the regular season.
Notably, they ranked 15th in team passing attempts while Stafford ranked 12th among quarterbacks.
Moreover, Rams receiver TuTu Atwell is already expected to step into a larger role in 2025.
“The Rams have broadcast their intent to rebuild their receiver room around their young star Nacua. General manager Les Snead also expressed his doubt Wednesday that veteran receiver Demarcus Robinson, who had played in the downfield/‘X’ position for the Rams for the last two seasons, will return to the team this season,” The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue wrote on March 6.
“Atwell, whose longer-term future with the Rams was in doubt because of his limited snaps, will step into that role and also be a factor in their motion and sweeps packages. Atwell has the speed, the knowledge of the offense and the hands to play this complementary role. It was hard to get him more snaps behind the other players and Sean McVay’s preference not to substitute players while in 11 personnel.”
Nacua is the new focal point of the passing attack. Adams is stepping in for Kupp. Atwell is assuming Robinson’s role. Former sixth-round pick Jordan Whittington also flashed in 2024.
The Rams may not have much need for or interest in Allen.
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