How new Bears WR Keenan Allen can help likely draft target Caleb Williams

Keenan Allen has met Caleb Williams just once — “Down to earth, chill guy,” he said — but he might already be his best friend. Or at least will be next month when most around the league expect the Bears to draft the USC quarterback.

Allen, the Chargers receiver for whom the Bears sent a fourth-round pick Thursday, might be the best route-runner in the NFL. The soon-to-be-32-year-old has focused even more on his footwork as he’s aged, knowing that he has less room for error.

The result: he gets open.

Allen smiled Saturday morning when asked about being a friendly target for a young passer.

“I’m a friendly guy on and off the field,” he said. “Obviously on the football field, I know the game. I know the ins and outs, I know the zones, I know how to beat man, I know pretty much how to play the game ...

“I’m friendly for the quarterback because I’ll be in the right spots. I know how to communicate with him, and my body language is solid, too.”

Adding Allen is the surest sign yet that the Bears are focused on putting a young quarterback — likely, Williams — in the best possible position to succeed. That’s something they couldn’t say when they drafted Justin Fields to play with free-agent additions Damiere Byrd and Marquise Goodwin (combined 46 catches for 642 yards in 2021) or when they teamed rookie Mitch Trubisky with free-agent signings Kendall Wright, Deonte Thompson and Markus Wheaton (73 for 790 in 2017).

Take out Allen’s 2016 season, when he tore his ACL in Week 1, and his average season features 90 catches and 1,053 yards.

Allen averaged career-best 2.36 yards per route run last season. When he hurt his heel in Week 13 — an injury that would cost him the rest of the season — he was leading the NFL in targets and catches and was fourth in receiving yards.

He and Williams have spent the last two years playing in the same city.

“Hell of an athlete,” Allen said of Williams. “Obviously, he can make tremendous plays with his feet, with his arm. Looks like he knows the game really well. Really good.”

Allen helped the Chargers bring along their own young quarterback, Justin Herbert, in 2020. In Herbert’s debut, he had 10 catches for 96 yards. In his second game, Allen caught 13 for 132. In his third, 11 for 62. He finished Herbert’s rookie season with 100 catches for 992 yards.

Allen, though, is walking into a quarterback downgrade — at least until Williams develops. He’s played 139 career games — and all but one has been started by either eight-time Pro Bowl player Philip Rivers or by Herbert. The lone exception: the 2020 season opener started by Tyrod Taylor, who the next week had his lung accidentally punctured by a team doctor and lost his starting job.

“Justin [Herbert] wasn’t for certain when he first got there,” Allen said. “Obviously, we had the battle with him and Tyrod after Philip left and Tyrod was the guy going into the season, and then ‘Herbo’ had to step up and be as great as he is.

Allen deserves credit for their success: since being drafted in Round 3 out of Cal in 2013, he has 10,530 receiving yards. He trails only DeAndre Hopkins, Mike Evans, Julio Jones, Travis Kelce and Davante Adams in that same time frame.

Even more exciting, Allen said, is what else the Bears have added this offseason: running back D’Andre Swift and tight end Gerald Everett, his former Chargers teammate.

“We got weapons,” he said. “Guys who can beat man all over the field. So double teaming one guy is going to be costly for the defense. I think we can use that as our advantage. Having a running back that can come out of the backfield and make plays and beat 1-on-1s, that’s kind of big.”