Wide receiver Keenan Allen had some interesting comments at his Tuesday media availability regarding his role with the current Chargers’ offense. Most of the attention was on his remarks regarding usage under former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi vs. Kellen Moore:
“With Lombardi, I was stuck at the slot the whole time,” Allen said. “I’m inside and outside now, we’re all kinda inside and outside now, playing everything.”
Allen did play significantly more slot snaps in 2022 under Lombardi than he did under previous offensive coordinators for the Chargers. Allen’s percentage of pass snaps in the slot jumped from 51.7% to 64.3% when comparing Shane Steichen’s 2020 vs. Lombardi’s 2022. The percentage of snaps out wide tells a similar story. Under Steichen, Allen lined up out wide 47.7% of the time. With Lombardi, that dipped to 35.1%.
It’s hard to tell precisely what Moore’s split will be, but the plan seems to be cross-training all receivers to play inside and outside, as Allen suggested.
Allen was also asked how often the Chargers’ receiving room watches Dallas tape. For their offensive installs under Moore, Allen says the team “pretty much watches them (the Cowboys) every day.”
Cowboyswide receiver CeeDee Lamb was the name Allen brought up when asked about which player he “mimics” from Moore’s Dallas team:
“He [CeeDee Lamb] moves around a lot, slot, inside and outside. He is a change of direction guy, going left or right.”
Looking at the usage of Lamb in his last two seasons yields interesting results. Lamb spent 52.5% of his snaps in the slot vs. 46.3% out wide when looking at the previous two years on average. That’s much closer to the previously mentioned Steichen split than the Lombardi split.
Allen seems to allude to the fact that Moore will be slightly less set on always following a specific offensive structure instead of consistently seeking out mismatches.