{"id":852671,"date":"2026-04-04T04:33:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/852671\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T04:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:33:32","slug":"ladainian-tomlinson-identifies-the-next-keenan-allen-for-the-chargers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/852671\/","title":{"rendered":"LaDainian Tomlinson identifies the next Keenan Allen for the Chargers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the players on the LA Chargers who may take a leap in 2026, wide receiver Tre’ Harris may be the most exciting. The 2025 second-round pick showed real flashes his rookie season and, in Mike McDaniel’s offense<\/a>, can emerge as a legitimate weapon for Justin Herbert. <\/p>\n

While he doesn’t have the pressure of a first-round pick, there is a slight make-or-break dynamic with Harris in his sophomore season. Whether or not he makes the leap could be the difference between him truly becoming a top option and never breaking out of just being a complementary option; otherwise known as the Joshua Palmer line. <\/p>\n

Those in the building really seem to believe in Harris, and so do those outside the building. Franchise legend LaDainian Tomlinson is a fan of Harris and sees a lot of potential in his game. During a recent appearance on Bleav in Chargers, LT told Matt “Money” Smith and Lorenzo Neal that Harris can be the team’s new Keenan Allen<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, when you think about Tre’, he really can be the Keenan Allen,” Tomlinson said. “He can stretch the field or be the possession guy […] a guy that, opposite of Quentin Johnston, is someone you need in a position like that. And then Ladd McConkey, obviously, as I mentioned, he’s the jack of all trades that I would look for in that offense. <\/p>\n

LaDainian Tomlinson thinks Tre’ Harris can be the Chargers’ new Keenan Allen<\/p>\n

To be clear, LT isn’t stating that Harris is instantly going to become one of the best receivers in the game and start a track toward being the best receiver in franchise history. That is the path Allen took, and expecting that out of Harris would be setting him up for failure. <\/p>\n

Instead, Tomlinson is talking about the type of role Harris can play in this offense. One that is a perfect compliment to Ladd McConkey in the slot and Quentin Johnston as the X receiver. Someone who can beat teams with crisp route running in the short areas while also being a weapon down the field.<\/p>\n

And if he’s really going to emulate Allen in this offense, Harris will have to be a threat on third downs. <\/p>\n

Now, this brings Allen’s future into question. Allen remains a free agent even though general manager Joe Hortiz said the team wanted to bring him back this offseason<\/a>. The Chargers have the money, and Allen has been pretty clear that he only wants to play in Los Angeles the rest of his NFL career. <\/p>\n

So what gives? Are the Chargers expecting a jump from Harris and is that reducing the desire for Allen? Are the two sides not aligned on a price point? Does Allen not want a lesser role as the WR4? There are so many different paths of speculation, and ironically enough, Harris and his potential jump are right in the center of them all. <\/p>\n

There’s no such thing as too much wide receiver talent and in a perfect world, Allen would return on a team-friendly deal to mentor Harris into becoming the player he is capable of; a player who could be very similar to Allen himself. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the players on the LA Chargers who may take a leap in 2026, wide receiver Tre’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-852671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangeleschargers","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116344573508867724","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}