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Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen.

No matter how many times the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff and front office say they have faith in their current group of wide receivers assembled behind NFL All-Pro CeeDee Lamb, it won’t make it true.

The numbers tell us this is a group that stumbled and bumbled its way to a 7-10 record and after Lamb’s 100 receptions for 1,194 yards and 6 touchdowns, the next best options were Jalen Tolbert (49 receptions, 610 yards) and oft-injured tight end Jake Ferguson (59 receptions, 494 yards, zero touchdowns), who took a major step back after making the Pro Bowl in 2023.

What the Cowboys need is a wide receiver who can step in and help the Cowboys win now — not later. And they’ll need to do so in a pressure-packed NFC East that now includes not only the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles but also the Washington Commanders, who the Eagles defeated in the NFC Championship Game.

One wide receiver who could fill that void? Six-time Pro Bowler Keenan Allen, who finds himself in need of a team after spending 2024 with the Chicago Bears. In his one season in Chicago, Allen had 70 receptions for 744 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Those numbers would have been great for the Cowboys, but for Allen it represented his worst season since 2016.

“CeeDee Lamb still put up big-time numbers last season, but Dallas needs to make his life easier by adding more receivers to deflect at least some attention,” ESPN’s Todd Archer wrote after the Cowboys didn’t select a wide receiver in the 2025 NFL draft. “The Cowboys know it, but now they have to show it with a trade or a free agent addition. ”

What Allen Could Bring to the Cowboys

Allen, 32 years old, has been one of the NFL’s most consistent receivers over the last decade. He spent his first 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers and had 6 seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards before he was traded to the Bears in March 2024 in exchange for a fourth round pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox put Allen at No. 6 on his list of the Top 10 available free agents following the draft. Sharp Football Analysis has Allen as the No. 2 free agent wide receiver still available behind former Cowboy Amari Cooper.

Allen just played out the final season of the 4-year, $80.1 million contract extension he signed with the Chargers in 2020 and made $23.1 million in 2024. The Cowboys could start with an offer in the vicinity of a 1-year, $6 million contract offer with the willingness to go up to $8 million if pressed.

“(Allen) is still a savvy route-runner with reliable hands who can use spacing and leverage to get open,” Knox wrote.

Cowboys Had Sights Set on McMillan in Draft

The Cowboys were ready to draft Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan with the No. 12 overall pick but after he went to the Carolina Panthers at No. 9 they still made a deft move in taking an elite offensive lineman in Alabama’s Tyler Booker.

Since Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in February 1989, the franchise has drafted a wide receiver in the first round 3 times; 2-time Super Bowl champion Alvin Harper in 1991 (No. 12 overall), 3-time Pro Bowler Dez Bryant in 2010 (No. 24 overall) and Lamb, a 3-time NFL All-Pro, in 2020 (No. 17 overall).

Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame