As with Aaron Rodgers and Marshawn Lynch, I watched receiver Keenan Allen play football in Berkeley for one season less than I would have preferred. Cal doesn't have many players that are NFL-ready in three years so when they do I prefer that they stay another year. But, that's not for me to decide. Rodgers and Lynch were ready for the big leagues. So is Keenan Allen.
Too much is being made of Allen's fairly slow 40 times at his very own pro day last week. 4.7-4.75 over 40 yards is blazing for an offensive lineman but receivers are expected to jog those times. Allen wasn't jogging. He suffered a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee late in the 2012 season and aggravated that injury in January while training for the NFL Scouting Combine. As a result, he wasn't able to run at the combine or at Cal's pro day. That left NFL personnel people to wait until last week to answer the question, "how fast is Keenan Allen?" He didn't show much speed. While his knee is now sound, he has yet to regain his explosion and, trust me, he does have plenty. That explosion will come but Allen will never really be considered fast. He'll be fast enough. He was fast enough in college. He'll be fast enough in the NFL. People should rely more on game tape than a stop watch.
Keenan Allen is the best receiver that I've seen at Cal since Wesley Walker. That's going back nearly 40 years. Better than Sean Dawkins or DeSean Jackson. Allen has running back skills with the ball in his hands. Great vision and toughness. That aspect of his game separates him from most receivers. His physicality draws comparisons to Anquan Boldin but Allen is a better runner with the ball in his hands. His running skills may create the one real issue that I have with his game. He has great hands but he can get careless with his pass catching. I feel that he is so intent on running with the ball that he neglects to catch it first. He was Cal's most dynamic offensive threat. At times he was their only offensive threat. Perhaps he felt that he had to score on every touch for Cal to have a chance. Big-time players want to make big-time plays, always. But, receivers should always keep in mind that they can't do a thing without the ball. Actually, they can still make an impact without the ball through their blocking. Many receivers shy from that task. Allen, with his Anquan-like physicality, is an effective downfield blocker.
Keenan Allen didn't "wow" people last week. If people expected a fast time then they didn't watch Allen's game tape. If they didn't like what he did in his three years at Cal, they're not going to like him at all. It's their loss. The only thing that Allen's 40 time this week really showed is the condition of his knee. It showed nothing of his true speed. Even completely healthy, Allen's 40 time shows nothing of his game speed. If his running this week drops him in the draft, I hope that it drops him to the Minnesota Vikings pick in the second round, #52 overall. It won't drop him that far but I can dream. I wouldn't complain at all if the Vikings selected him with one of their two first round picks. Any team that drafts Keenan Allen will be happy that they did.
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