Keenan Allen passes Terrell Owens, Anquan Boldin on NFL career receptions leaderboard: How high will he climb?

The Colts receiver climbed to ninth in NFL history with 1,081 career receptions, and another productive season could carry him even higher

Oct 18, 2026 at 4:39 pm ET • 3 min read

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.

NFL career receptions leaderboard

Rank	Player	Receptions
1	Jerry Rice	1,549
2	Larry Fitzgerald	1,432
3	Tony Gonzalez	1,325
4	Jason Witten	1,228
5	Marvin Harrison	1,102
6	Cris Carter	1,101
7	Travis Kelce	1,096+
8	Tim Brown	1,094
9	Keenan Allen	1,081+
10	Terrell Owens	1,078

How far will Keenan Allen climb on all-time receiving list?

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.

At that pace, it would take five seasons beyond this year to unseat Jerry Rice as the all-time receptions leader.

Is Keenan Allen a future Hall of Famer?

The company Allen keeps makes it fair to wonder whether he will end up enshrined in Canton, Ohio. The only wide receivers ahead of him on the catches leaderboard are Hall of Famers, and both Witten and Kelce are expected to join the fraternity in due time.

There are a couple of other key factors working in Allen's favor. His route-running acumen and ability to move the chains on third down are some of the greatest of his era. And the longevity element works in his favor, too, considering he remains productive into his mid-30s and strung together five consecutive Pro Bowl seasons and another in 2023. Allen was also the Comeback Player of the Year in 2017 when he led the NFL in first downs one season after tearing his ACL in Week 1.

A couple of knocks against Allen's resume are critical, though, and could eventually make him the only top-10 career receiver to be absent from the Hall of Fame. The fact that he is a wide receiver presents a challenge, given the extensive backlog at that position on the ballot. Allen does not have a single All-Pro selection; he never led the league in anything besides first downs, and his postseason experience is extremely limited, with just six playoff games played and no Super Bowl appearances.

Allen's position on the receiving leaderboard would have to do a lot of heavy lifting for him to separate himself from the other deserving pass-catchers who have been waiting years to get into the Hall.