49ers acquire WR Keenan Allen from Colts, give up 2027 sixth-round pick

Keenan Allen is headed back to California, this time to play for the San Francisco 49ers.

Allen, a Cal product best known for his time with the Chargers, is being traded midway through his first season with the Indianapolis Colts, the team announced Tuesday ahead of the deadline .

Indianapolis is receiving a 2027 sixth-round pick from the Niners in return.

The 34-year-old Allen, still facing a minimum three-game suspension following his August drunk-driving arrest , will join a San Francisco receiving corps that's been riddled by injuries. The 49ers lost Ricky Pearsall for the season this summer, as the third-year wideout underwent PCL surgery to address a knee issue that dated back to the 2025 campaign. Then, during San Francisco's season-opening win over the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia, rookie receiver De'Zhaun Stribling suffered an ankle injury. Stribling, this year's No. 33 overall pick, has yet to return to game action.

As the 49ers have stormed out to a 7-1 start, fellow wideouts Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel Sr. have also dealt with injuries . Evans, navigating Achilles and ribs problems, has missed the past two games. Samuel, nursing a hamstring injury, has been out the past three. Plus, another member of the team's receiver room, Christian Kirk, has been sidelined for most of the fall. He's now on injured reserve with a meniscus issue.

Even with a shorthanded offense, quarterback Brock Purdy is playing some of his best football under head coach Kyle Shanahan. Purdy's 109.8 passer rating is the second best of his career. He leads all qualifying NFL passers this season in EPA per dropback (+0.25), per Next Gen Stats.

Purdy will surely welcome another weapon, especially considering Allen has performed relatively well in his 14th NFL season.

The six-time Pro Bowler has appeared in eight games this season, starting four and piling up 40 receptions and 351 receiving yards. He scored one touchdown for a middling Colts offense.

At 2-7, Indianapolis is currently the league's biggest deadline seller. On Oct. 27, more than a week after firing longtime general manager Chris Ballard , the Colts traded left guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. They were two of the organization's longest-tenured players. The six-time All-Pro Nelson went to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick. And the two-time All-Pro Buckner landed back with his old team, the 49ers , who gave up a 2027 fourth-round draft pick for the interior defensive lineman.

As for Allen's suspension, he's not expected to miss playing time while his case makes its way through the courts. So he could very well finish the 2026 season without serving a ban.

Allen, notably, is on an expiring contract. He signed a one-year deal with the Colts this summer.