The Indianapolis Colts made national headlines earlier this week after signing six-time former Pro Bowl veteran wideout Keenan Allen to a one-year, $8.32 million deal to boost their seemingly depleted wide receiver corps.
While the Colts had been in talks with Allen and his representation for months this offseason, the 13-year veteran and Indianapolis were finally able to strike a deal with the regular season rapidly approaching. Fortunately for Allen, he’s expected to have a starting role within
the Colts offense, once he gets up to speed of course, without having had to go through the summer and heated rigors of NFL training camp.
Even though Allen will not be replacing Alec Pierce’s deep threat role by any means, should the latter miss initial regular season time still recovering from an ankle/heel injury, I can’t help but think that Pierce’s potential pending absence still played a part in this much needed signing finally getting done. “Deadlines spur action,” and right now, we’re just a few weeks away from the Colts regular season opener, and Pierce has yet to even practice. One would have to think that there’d even be a ramp up period for conditioning once he debuts in practice.
Any Pierce absence that carries over into the regular season clearly decimates the Colts wide receiver corps. While whoever played outside WR2 opposite Pierce was less relevant, whether it was Ashton Dulin or Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, when Pierce, Josh Downs, and Tyler Warren are all fully healthy from a target sense. Right now, Pierce isn’t fully healthy, and both Downs and Warren have had recent injury scares themselves.
When you’re WR1 is out, suddenly the rest of your wide receiver corps gets elevated a spot. It’s no different than when Aaron Judge misses time for the New York Yankees, and suddenly Cody Bellinger is now hitting in the 2-hole. That lineup gets far less imposing and is easier for pitchers to get through the lineup. Dulin or Westbrook-Ikhine isn’t as meaningful when they’re the 3rd or 4th option out there, but with Pierce out, a Colts receiver corps of Downs, Dulin, and Westbrook-Ikhine otherwise looks a whole lot less formidable, and a lot easier to cover for opposing secondaries. Allen isn’t realistically the same guy he once was, but his reputation, experience, and recent production carry weight—as does his complete body of work in the NFL.
I think the Colts had enough time to see what Dulin and Westbrook-Ikhine could do out there throughout training camp, and while the two could be a serviceable platoon by deploying them to their clear strengths, neither player was going to be nearly as complete of a wideout as the departed Michael Pittman Jr. on the field.
The Colts reasonably knew that going in, but were still looking at evaluating their potential options.
Although he was understatedly effective last year, I’m not sure a 34-year-old Keenan Allen will be a complete Pittman Jr. replacement either (particularly from a perimeter blocking sense), but at 6,2”, 211 pounds, he can work a lot of the underneath routes and occasional intermediate routes that the Colts recently utilized Pittman Jr. for—while providing lost veteran leadership in their wide receiver room.
On ‘The Pat McAfee Show,’ it was interesting that Allen actually led the league in 3rd down catches last year, having 34 such catches for 355 total receiving yards, showcasing that he can still effectively move the sticks as a sure-handed, reliable possession target. He doesn’t separate as well as he used to, but he can still get consistently open and make contested catches.
The hope has to be that he still has a good amount of juice left to help an AFC playoff hopeful close the gap, as the Colts were previously burned by the veteran free agent signing of future Hall of Famer Andre Johnson, who was also 34-years-old back in 2015, and lasted just that sole season in Indianapolis after an underwhelming, 41 receptions for 503 total receiving yards and 4 touchdown receptions during 16 games (14 starts), even with franchise quarterback Andrew Luck passing to him behind center.
Allen has some momentum, given the productive season he had last year returning to the Chargers. That being said, expectations have to be tempered a bit, as he’s closer to being a complementary piece for the Colts offense than the perennial Pro Bowler of years past—think more of a WR3/4 than a WR1/2, and that’s all Indy needs.
