Chicago Bears Weighing Franchise Tag With Allen Robinson - Forbes

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Before the Bears signed Allen Robinson, their leading wide receivers were Kendall Wright and Josh Bellamy. This was in 2017, when a 5-11 season led to the firing of John Fox and the hiring of Matt Nagy. 

Robinson has arguably been more essential for the Bears’ offense over the last three seasons than any receiver on any team in the NFL. He’s averaged 8.9 targets and 5.7 receptions in his 45 games with Chicago, piling up 3151 receiving yards and a criminally low 17 touchdown catches.

Imagine how high all of those totals would be if the Bears hadn’t suffered through serious quarterback issues while Nagy sorted through Mitchell Trubisky, Nick Foles and Chase Daniels. 

Anthony Miller, the Bears’ second-leading receiver the last three years, has 134 catches on 215 targets, worth 1564 yards and 11 touchdowns. It’s easy to understand why the Bears must regret allowing Robinson to reach the market this year as an unrestricted free agent.

Retaining Robinson is almost as much of a priority as finding a reliable quarterback for the Bears to improve from their 8-8 season in 2020. 

Robinson understandably set a high asking price in negotiations over a contract extension, none of which have occurred recently according to a report by NFL.com's Tom Pelissero. It’s possible the Bears will use a franchise tag to keep Robinson on the roster in 2021 but it’s unclear if Robinson would honor it or hold out to force a trade.

Pelissero raised the possibility of the Bears tagging Robinson and then trading him. That’s an interesting possibility but leaves open the question of who is going to catch passes from Foles or another quarterback.

Robinson has been tight-lipped on the subject. "I think everybody knows a little bit on how I feel about that,’’ Robinson told Sirius XM last week. “I'm not going to really get into that right now.”

General Manager Ryan Pace told Chicago reporters that the franchise tag is “on the table’’ along with other options. 

"The league gives us tools for a reason,” Pace said. “But right now, we're just going to keep all those talks internal out of respect to Allen, out of respect to his agent. I think those are best just handled in a private manner.”

Robinson, 28, played under a three-year, $42-million contract with the Bears. The website spotrac.com estimates his market value at $80.2 million over four years, which would rank behind only Michael Thomas and Keenan Allen among NFL receivers. 

The website overthecap.com projects the franchise value of a wide receiver to be $16.43 million. 

While Robinson says he has “nothing but respect and appreciation’’ for the Bears, he understands the leverage he would have if the Bears allowed him to reach the market. He has increased his total of catches and yards each of the last two seasons despite poor play from quarterbacks, which suggests he could produce massive numbers in a high-powered offense operated by one of the league’s top-10 quarterbacks.

Rookie Darnell Mooney emerged as a weapon in the second half of last season but the Bears remain thin at wide receiver behind Robinson. They will almost certainly look to add talent through the draft, regardless of what happens with Robinson, but need for help at quarterback and on the offensive line could prompt them to look for receivers in the third round or later.

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