There is a new member in the heralded club of the NFL's top 10 career receiving leaders. Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Keenan Allen made eight catches in Sunday's 26-20 loss to the Tennessee Titans to bring his career total to 1,081. That is good for the ninth most in league history.
Allen entered Week 6 at No. 11 on the leaderboard. Cracking the top 10 was not enough for the 34-year-old wideout as he jumped two spots and leaped in front of both Anquan Boldin and Terrell Owens. He now stands a mere 13 receptions behind Tim Brown for eighth place and is on pace to climb even higher than that this season.
The vast majority of Allen's career receptions came with the Chargers. His first four years in the NFL were the last four of the franchise's San Diego era, and he moved with them to Los Angeles, where he earned six Pro Bowl selections in seven years. Allen made 70 catches in 2024 with the Chicago Bears before returning to the Chargers last year and adding 81 to his tally.
Allen has now accumulated 26 receptions in his first five games as a Colt, which is good for second-most on the team. The rise up the ladder saw Allen surpass one Hall of Famer, and nearly everyone else in front of him already has or will one day earn a gold jacket. Tight ends Jason Witten and Travis Kelce are the only non-Hall of Famers standing between Allen and the all-time receptions record.
The Colts will eventually get their No. 1 receiver, Alec Pierce, back from injured reserve. That will diminish Allen's target share, but he should still retain a sizable role in the passing scheme, considering his skill set as a premier route-runner differs from Pierce's threat as a big-play, downfield weapon. At his current pace, Pierce is on track for 83 catches by season's end.
That would place him sixth on the leaderboard, presuming Kelce (the only active player ahead of him) does not slip from his own pace. At that point, the question becomes whether Allen will suit up in 2027 and beyond or hang up his cleats for a much-deserved retirement. If he plays one more year, produces at the same pace as he has from 2025-26 (the only stretch of his career in which he was not an every-week starter), and Kelce retires at the end of this season, then he would likely move into the top five.
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