9. Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers
Keenan Allen is another player who provides teaching tape at the wide receiver position, but still seems to fly under the radar when lists like this are assembled. But when you study Allen, you get a sense of what it takes to play the WR position at a high level. Over the past three years Allen has posted over 100 receptions, over 1,100 yards and over five touchdowns in every single campaign.
Watch this touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs:
Allen runs an out route against a safety, and he is able to exploit a leverage advantage to the outside. But look at the body control, as he both goes up to get the football yet manages to get both feet down inbounds. This is not an easy play, but he makes it look as such.
Watch this next route from the left side of the field, and as you do, please keep the phrase “full-body route-running” in mind:
Allen sells this route perfectly. At the top of his vertical stem he sinks his hips – and his upper body – into the cut, baiting the cornerback on a move to the inside. The CB bites and jumps underneath, but Allen feels that impeccably and uses that moment to make his true intended cut, diagonally on the corner route. But his work is not done. He needs to stop and work back to an underthrown ball and make the catch.
Which he does. A thing of beauty.
Allen will be playing with a new quarterback this season, in either Tyrod Taylor or Justin Herbert. But his tremendous talent and skillset makes him a dangerous target every time he steps on the field.