Keenan Allen tabbed as the NFL’s 2nd-best slot receiver

Put some RESPECT on his name!

Keenan Allen is a man highly-driven by respect.

I mean, just think about how often he’s left off some of these “top-five NFL receivers” list just to have beat writers and reporters ask him about it at the next press conferences. He’s constantly reminded that people underrate him and I’m sure that gets a bit tiring.

I bet he wants nothing more than to finally get over that “hump” to where he’s simply a consensus top wideout in the game so no one ever has to bring up the “disrespect” he receives ever again.

Luckily, I get to report some well-earned respect for the Slayer by USA Today’s Doug Farrar who recently ranked Allen as the NFL’s best slot receiver behind only the Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill.

“Allen has been one of the NFL’s more underrated receivers since the Chargers selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft out of Cal,” says Farrar. “Allen doesn’t blow you away with explosive plays — he doesn’t really have the straight-line speed for that — but when it comes to understanding and exploiting coverages from anywhere on the field, there are few better.

Here, against the Dolphins last season (below), Allen sees the DB blitz, he sees his defensive back turning in what appears to be a bail look from the inside slot, and you can imagine that he knew this was a touchdown before it played out.”

This past season, Allen caught 43 passes on 60 targets from the slot for a total of 441 yards and six touchdowns. As Farrar mentions in his article, those numbers still fall behind other receivers in his rankings, but he believes the game tape does so much talking that his numbers on paper don’t have to. After all, as we all know, the stat sheet doesn’t tell the whole story.

So thank you Mr. Farrar for watching the film, doing the work, and coming to the expected conclusion that Allen is one of the best receivers, inside or outside, in the NFL today.