Chargers WR Keenan Allen details why he was 'stuck' under previous OC

Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen feels like the team's new offense gives him more freedom, which could substantially increase his impact this season.

"With [former offensive coordinator] Joe Lombardi, I was stuck in the slot the whole time," Allen said in a Tuesday news conference. "I'm inside and outside now. We're all kinda inside and outside now, playing everything."

Per Pro Football Focus, Allen logged the highest slot rates of his career (64.3 percent in 2022 and 62.2 percent in 2021) in two seasons with Lombardi. It wasn't a terrible move because Allen produced. In 2021, he recorded a career-high 106 receptions in 16 games and made the Pro Bowl. Last season, a left hamstring injury limited him to 10 games, but he still managed to register 66 receptions for 752 yards and four TDs.
Yet the offense's predictability backfired in the playoffs. 

Los Angeles blew a 27-point lead and only scored three points in the second half of a 31-30 loss to Jacksonville. Consequently, the franchise fired Lombardi and replaced him with former Cowboys OC Kellen Moore.

While Moore served as Dallas OC from 2019 to 2022, the Cowboys passing offense finished second in yards twice. To produce similar results, he's showing Allen film of star wideout CeeDee Lamb. Allen said he will "mimic" Lamb in Moore's system because "he moves around a lot." 

Over the past two seasons, Lamb lined up in the slot on 52.45 percent of snaps and out wide 46.3 percent, via PFF. Moore moving Lamb around worked, as he made consecutive Pro Bowl appearances and was sixth in receiving yards (1,359 in 17 games) last season. 

Allen playing a similar role to Lamb will allow the five-time Pro Bowler to generate big numbers and elevate the Chargers' passing attack.