Few subjects have dominated Chicago Bears news over the course of this year more than the contract status of wide receiver Allen Robinson. The 27-year old was entering the last year of his current deal and coming off a 1,000-yard season. He was easily the best weapon the Bears had on offense and nothing has changed since then.
With seven games to go, Robinson has 712 yards and three touchdowns. If that trend holds, he’ll finish with 1,265 yards. Even better than his 2019 numbers. It’s difficult for people to fathom what in the world has compelled the Bears to not get this thing done. According to several reports over the past couple of months, it centers on two things.
Robinson’s contract demands and the 2021 salary cap.
Rumors were the receiver wanted something in the vicinity of Odell Beckham Jr. money. That would be $18 million per year. The Bears though were hoping for closer to $16 million. As time went on the two sides never seemed to draw closer. GM Ryan Pace admitted part of the problem was the projected drop of the 2021 cap to around $175 million.
That would put the Bears in the red. With a projected 30 pending free agents, handing Robinson the money he wanted suddenly became a lot harder to swallow. It seems when the man was unwilling to budge, the team brass reached what could be a fateful decision. Chris Emma of 670 The Score says contract talks ceased shortly after the season began.
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
“The Bears appear to be prepared to move on without Robinson. They haven’t engaged in extension talks with him since early in the season, a source said.
General manager Ryan Pace and the front office reached a three-year extension with running back Tarik Cohen just before midnight on Sept. 20. While the deal for Cohen didn’t prohibit the Bears from extending Robinson, the Bears’ talks with Robinson broke down from there.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44C1UWNdIo&ab_channel=ChicagoBears
Allen Robinson basically confirmed this
Emma was backed up by what Robinson himself had to say. The wide receiver spoke with the media on Tuesday. Inevitably questions about his contract came up. As before, he stated firmly that he’d put such things behind him. He’s focused on doing his job and trying to help get the Bears back in the win column. Where it got interesting is he added a little extra detail, stating that he put it behind him “after Week 2 or Week 3.”
That falls right in line with what the source indicated about the Bears terminating talks. It’s little wonder Allen Robinson ended up wiping any mentions of the team from his social media. The amount of disrespect he must’ve felt is substantial. So these guys can afford to make Eddie Jackson the highest-paid safety in the league but they can’t be bothered to make him the 6th or 7th-highest-paid receiver?
It’s a small miracle he didn’t decide to just go public with trade demands.
Now people can pretty much guess what the future is for Allen Robins at this point. With the Bears spiraling out of control and their offense a complete mess, where is the incentive for him to stay? It certainly isn’t the quarterbacks and they don’t want to pay him decent money. There is nothing left. His only option is to seek the open market next March.
Odds are the team won’t let that happen. They’ll most likely franchise tag him. From there the question will be whether he plays the tag out or gets traded. The funny part is Pace may not end up being the guy making that decision. How ironic.