Getty

Free agent wide receiver Keenan Allen

The Kansas City Chiefs were interested in adding Jauan Jennings to the wide receiver room this offseason. Now that he’s a member of the Minnesota Vikings, the Chiefs could, and probably should, pursue an older and more accomplished playmaker cut from a similar cloth.

Keenan Allen has spent all but one season of his 13-year NFL career with the Los Angeles Chargers, earning six Pro Bowls along the way. At his best, Allen was considerably better than Jennings is now in his prime. However, the ability to work the short and intermediate areas of the field and the superb nose for the first-down marker and the end zone is what connects the two players stylistically.

Toughness and physicality are two traits the Chiefs could use in the WR room, and each is something Allen can provide. He will play in 2026 at the age of 34 and is coming off an 81-catch campaign, in which he gained 777 receiving yards and caught four touchdowns.

Keenan Allen High-Quality Possession WR on Third Down, in Red Zone

Allen is no longer the 150-target No. 1 option he used to be. But with Rashee Rice currently languishing in jail after violating his parole by testing positive for marijuana while also nursing a surgically-repaired knee back to health, Allen might step into the Chiefs’ locker room as the best pass-catching option across any position.

Tight end Travis Kelce is back for a 14th season and put up similar numbers as Allen last season, tallying 76 grabs for 851 yards and five TDs. Xavier Worthy is the explosive option of the bunch as he returns from an injury-plagued year in 2025, during which he missed three games and health issues hampered him in others.

Worthy has the speed to break big plays and had the highest average depth of target (12.5 yards) of any Chiefs receiver who saw enough snaps to qualify for a Pro Football Focus player ranking in 2025. Tyquan Thornton, who played 275 pass snaps and saw 36 targets, had an average depth of target of 27.8 yards, per PFF.

Kansas City needs more explosive plays in all phases of the offense, arguably even more so in the run game than the pass game, and added Super Bowl MVP running back Kenneth Walker III to address that. Allen is not a player who can give the Chiefs as much of that explosive element at WR as they might like, with an average depth of target at 8.6 yards. Still, that figure is ahead of Kelce by 1.7 yards.

Allen also could also add another athletic, sure-handed option for Patrick Mahomes to rely on in the red zone and on third downs, which would be an upgrade over last year.

Keenan Allen Can Offer Chiefs Affordable Route Runner

GettyFormer Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell noted on the May 6 episode of Mina Kimes’ podcast earlier this month that Jennings would have fit perfectly in Kansas City.

On Thursday, May 21, he voiced his displeasure with the team’s inability to acquire Jennings, or any other meaningful pass-catching upgrade, by describing the Chiefs’ worst offseason move as their inability to add wide receiver production.

“A second tight end would have taken some of the load off Kelce and allowed the Chiefs to play more multi-tight end sets, something they leaned into after trading Tyreek Hill in 2022,” Barnwell wrote. “Another route runner might have given Mahomes a reliable pair of hands.”

Allen could be that route runner as an inexpensive, stopgap solution in 2026. Spotrac projects his market value at just $6.8 million on a one-year deal.