NFL Rumors: Keenan Allen Injury Feared To Be Torn ACL, San Diego Chargers Need Wide Receiver
Very few things in the NFL can derail a season as quickly and as harshly as a serious injury to a star player. According to ESPN, Keenan Allen has suffered a knee injury. The belief right now is that the San Diego Chargers star wide receiver has torn his ACL and could be out for the rest of the year.
Late in the first half against the Kansas City Chiefs, Keenan Allen went down on the field. The injury was bad enough to where he needed to be carted off the field. NFL players usually like to walk off the field on their own. However, Allen simply was in too much pain to do that.
Prior to his knee buckling, Keenan Allen was having a very good day for the San Diego Chargers. The former California Golden Bears star had six catches for 63 yards. For most wide receivers in the NFL, that would be a very good game, but Allen did that in just the first half.
Keenan Allen believed to have a torn ACL https://t.co/PcLm3fdOet
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 11, 2016
Another season ending injury would be unfortunate for the 24 year old. Last season, Keenan Allen missed the final half of the season because of a kidney laceration. The North Carolina native was on track to break 1,000 yards and 100 receptions for the San Diego Chargers before the injury.
Even with the season ending injury, the San Diego Chargers believed that Keenan Allen was a long term solution for them at wide receiver. Over the summer, the team signed him to a contract extension. The 6-foot-2, 210 pound Allen was handed a four year deal worth approximately $44 million.
According to NFL.com, the San Diego Chargers were supposed to have one of the more high powered offenses in professional football. Franchise quarterback Philip Rivers had plenty of weapons in Keenan Allen, Danny Woodhead, Melvin Gordon, Antonio Gates, and Travis Benjamin.
Stevie Johnson was initially supposed to have been one of those weapons for the San Diego Chargers. Early on during training camp, the veteran wide receiver tore his meniscus, which means that he will be forced to miss the entire NFL season. The Chargers placed Johnson on Injured Reserve in August.
A potential option for the San Diego Chargers is to bring James Jones back into the mix. The veteran wide receiver was signed by the Chargers at the beginning of August, but he was released at the end of the month when San Diego needed to cut down to the maximum number of players.
Roddy White is another interesting option for the San Diego Chargers. After spending many years with the Atlanta Falcons, he was finally given his release from the team. White was upset because he felt that the coaching staff made him an afterthought on offense.
Depending on his health, Marques Colston could be an option as well. The former New Orleans Saints franchise wide receiver has been recovering from shoulder surgery, as reported by NFL.com. Even at 33 years of age, Colston could still be an asset on offense for the San Diego Chargers.
The San Diego Chargers need as much help as possible because the AFC West is ultra competitive right now. The Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, and Kansas City Chiefs are all capable of going very deep in the NFL Playoffs this year. The Chargers could just as easily finish fourth as they can in first place.
Injuries are something that NFL fans never want to see. Unfortunately, though, they are a part of the game because professional football is a violent sport. Keenan Allen has a chance to be one of the best wide receivers of all time, but he needs to stay on the field to make that happen.
[Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images]
