You can take Keenan Allen off of the Chargers, but you can't take the Charger out of Keenan Allen. As the Chicago Bears report to training camp this weekend, Allen said that he draws from his past in building rapport with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
ESPN's Courtney Cronin asked the former Chargers' receiver about staying in the same hotel as Williams during minicamp. The two reportedly spent a lot of time together in trying to learn the playbook. Allen's full quote references two quarterbacks he spent a lot of time with during his Chargers' tenure:
"I'm not a guy who masters the playbook by any means sitting at home just looking at the playbook. That's not how I learn it. I'm a trial and error guy. I learn through mistakes. Just being able to sit there with him, he'd call out the play, I'd draw it up, vice versa ... we talk about the play — what I like, what I'm used to, what I usually see — and then going over the knowledge, making sure we're on the same page.
Just being able to communicate at this level. Obviously you've got new terminology from college and you're going to get different coverages, too. Just giving him the knowledge that I was taught being with guys like Philip Rivers, obviously Justin Herbert, and just making sure we're seeing things the same way."
The Chargers spoiled Keenan Allen with great QBs before trading him to the Bears
Entering the 2022 season, the Chargers produced a video in which Allen gave more of his thoughts on the two predominant franchise quarterbacks of the 21st century. In analyzing his highlights on the receiving end from both players, Allen said this:
"Phil (Rivers) was like the smartest person I ever played with, but Justin is the most talented. He (Rivers) knew everything about the defense that the defense didn't even know. We have protection meetings now and Phil used to run the whole protection meeting by himself without a coach
When we get back on the plane, Phil already on the computer looking at the next team's blitz packages. He's picking all that up so he can go over the meeting with the O-Line, running backs and everything."
Despite Allen moving on to his new career with the Bears, it's nice to know that he still thinks about Rivers, Herbert, and his Chargers' days as he heads into his 12th NFL season.
And even with all of the hype around Williams heading into his rookie season, it would be considered a massive win if the Bears got a quarterback who is as talented as Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert.