Are the Chicago Bears and Keenan Allen making progress on a contract extension?
One of the big additions to the Chicago Bears offense this offseason was trading for wide receiver Keenan Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers. The move gave rookie quarterback Caleb Williams another weapon as Chicago’s receiving core could be among the best in the league for 2024.
But when the trade happened, the biggest note was that Allen had one year left on his deal.
Since then, Allen has mentioned how California has been his home a few times this offseason and how his family is back there while he’s at training camp. It didn’t sound great for the Bears chances to re-sign him but a new report suggests that Allen may want to stay in Chicago, after-all.
In a training camp notebook, ESPN’s Dan Graziano noted that Allen recently changed agents and approached the Bears about a contract extension:
“But so far, they haven’t made progress on that front,” Graziano said of the Allen extension talks. “The Moore contract, done with two years left on his prior deal, shows that the Bears consider the 27-year-old a key building block for their future along with Odunze. They’ll likely wait and see on the 32-year-old Allen before committing beyond this year.”
The Bears and Allen haven’t made a lot of progress yet but it is encouraging that Allen wants to stay in Chicago and approached the team. That’s some progress at least, right?
This will be something to monitor moving forward especially after Poles has given out extensions already to DJ Moore and Cole Kmet on the offensive side of the football the past two offseasons.
Chicago Bears core at wide receiver with or without Keenan Allen?
This news comes just a few days after the Bears agreed to a long-term extension with wide receiver DJ Moore, adding four more years on his contract. Moore is the key piece to Chicago’s offense outside of the quarterback position.
Locking up the 27-year-old through 2029 was a big move. But what about the 32-year-old Allen? Moore expressed that he talked to Allen about staying here for the long-term.
“I already did that now,” Moore said. “I did that yesterday. I was like, man, listen. What’s your number? Let’s get it done. And I mean, I’m going to leave his number out of it. But I think we can get it done. So it should be interesting.”
The other piece to this receiving core is rookie Rome Odunze. The No. 9 overall pick was a top player overall in the 2024 NFL draft for the Bears and despite having DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, the Bears still drafted him. Having this trio for at least two-three years would be key for Caleb Williams’ development moving forward.
The other aspect to this is the price tag for Allen.
The receiver currently carries a $23.1 million salary cap hit for the upcoming season. Getting a deal done now could benefit the Bears moving forward in terms of restructuring the cap hit for this upcoming season, and getting a deal that also benefits Allen.
It’s unknown what Allen’s price tag truly is but there has to be some middle ground on finding the right deal to keep him here with the Chicago Bears. But like Graziano stated, this could be a ‘wait and see’ situation as the Bears want to see how he fits in with this offense and if he can produce as the season goes on in Chicago.
Either way, this upcoming season should be an exciting one for Chicago’s offense and hopefully a big rookie year for Caleb Williams.
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