Colts Sign Keenan Allen to One-Year Deal Worth Up to $8.32 Million

The Colts finally did something about a wide receiver room that's been an open question mark all training camp.

Indianapolis signed Keenan Allen to a one-year contract worth up to $8.32 million, according to ESPN, which first reported the deal late Monday night. NFL Insider Jordan Schultz and the IndyStar also confirmed the terms. Fox Sports and NFL.com matched the $8.32 million figure, though HankFM's report on the deal put the number at $8.1 million. Either way, it's a modest, prove-it contract for a 34-year-old at the end of a long career, not a long-term commitment.

Allen is no stranger to Colts head coach Shane Steichen. The two spent years together with the Chargers, from Steichen's time as an offensive assistant starting in 2014 through his stint as offensive coordinator in 2020, when Allen caught 100 passes for eight touchdowns. NFL.com noted Steichen was also the Chargers' interim OC in 2019. That relationship, not a scouting department memo, appears to be why this deal got done.

And it needed to get done. The Colts have a real problem at receiver. Alec Pierce signed a four-year, $114 million contract this offseason and hasn't practiced since undergoing ankle surgery in the spring. Fantasy Life reported Pierce has since received a second injection in that ankle and remains in real jeopardy of missing Week 1. That's a lot of guaranteed money sitting on the sideline.

Josh Downs, who was already set for a bigger workload after Indianapolis traded Michael Pittman Jr. to the Steelers in a cap-driven move in March, has also been banged up with a groin injury that's kept him out of practice, according to the New York Post. That left rookie tight end Tyler Warren, who broke out last season, as close to the only healthy proven target for quarterback Daniel Jones, who is himself working back from a torn Achilles.

Behind Pierce and Downs, the depth chart was Ashton Dulin, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Laquon Treadwell and seventh-round rookie Deion Burks, none of whom had done much to separate themselves in camp, per Fantasy Life and HankFM. That's the room Allen is walking into.

He's not walking in as a finished product at full speed, but he's not walking in on reputation alone either. Allen caught 81 passes for 777 yards and four touchdowns last season with the Chargers, leading the team with 122 targets at age 33, according to Fantasy Life. He's a six-time Pro Bowler, sits 13th all-time in receptions with 1,055, and is 33rd in career receiving yards with 12,051, per NFL.com. He's 15 catches from passing Colts legend Reggie Wayne on the all-time list, and Wayne is now Allen's receiving coach in Indianapolis, which is a fairly specific bit of symmetry.

HankFM raised an aging-curve concern: in the last three years, Adam Thielen is the only receiver 34 or older to post a 200-yard season, and Colts fans still remember how the Andre Johnson signing ended despite Andrew Luck at quarterback. That's a realistic risk for any