Everyone has been waiting for Bears general manager Ryan Poles to make a big move in this pivotal offseason. He came through late Thursday with a surprise trade.
The Bears dealt a fourth-round draft pick to the Chargers for six-time Pro Bowl receiver Keenan Allen. Finally, a sign they’re truly in win-now mode.
Allen, 31, was as good or better than any receiver available in free agency and is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. Even with the Chargers in disarray and quarterback Justin Herbert missing time with an injury, he caught 108 passes for 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns.
As good as DJ Moore is, Allen has even stronger credentials and gives the Bears a chance to turn one of their biggest weaknesses into a strength. They’re still sitting on the Nos. 1 and 9 picks in the draft and could target an elite prospect at receiver in LSU’s Malik Nabers or Washington’s Rome Odunze at No. 9.
That would be a huge help to whoever plays quarterback next season, which is expected to be USC star Caleb Williams, whom the Bears are likely to take No. 1 overall. Before the Allen acquisition, the Bears had no wide receiver other than Moore with more than 30 career catches.
If the Bears do draft Williams, adding Allen significantly improves the situation he’ll be stepping into as a rookie. The defense was one of the best in the NFL after adding pass rusher Montez Sweat last season, the offensive line has been improved and there’s a solid crew of skill players with Allen, Moore, tight end Cole Kmet and Pro Bowl running back D’Andre Swift — the team’s biggest free-agent pickup — on board.
Allen became available after 11 seasons with the Chargers — he was around so long that he played his first four in San Diego — because they were in a salary-cap crunch. They already had to cut veteran receiver Mike Williams and restructure the contracts of defensive stars Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa to get below the cap and needed to offload Allen to have any flexibility going forward.
Incidentally, it was the Chargers who bailed the Bears out of a cap mess when Poles took the job and sent them Mack for a second-round pick.
Allen was going into the final season of his contract and was set to count $23.1 million against the cap. It was unclear immediately what his number would be for the Bears, but Over The Cap had them at $56.3 million in space before the trade, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
The fourth-round pick going to the Chargers is the Bears’ own choice (No. 110), not the one they got from the Eagles (No. 122) in a draft-day trade last year.
Regardless, Allen is right there with Brandon Marshall as one of the most accomplished receivers the Bears have had in the last several decades and has had more success at his position than any player on their roster.
He missed nearly all of the 2016 season with a torn ACL but since then has played 101 of a possible 115 games. In his last seven seasons, he has averaged 98 catches for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns.
It was a necessary swing by Poles. Other than Moore, very little has worked out for the Bears lately at a crucial position. He thought he had it solved with the Moore trade, which stacked him on top of Chase Claypool and Darnell Mooney, but Claypool fizzled and Mooney had the worst season of his career before leaving for the Falcons as a free agent this week.
