To franchise or not to franchise wide receiver Allen Robinson. That is the question facing GM Ryan Pace, who’s supposed to have his mind made up by Tuesday, March 9.
It’s been an excruciating saga for Bears fans to deal with ever since the start of the 2020 regular season when a lucrative contract extension was expected for A-Rob. That new deal never came, and now it appears like Chicago’s best and only shot of retaining Robinson for 2021 is via the franchise tag.
But we may not know whether they’ve decided to use it by Tuesday.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the NFL is considering pushing back the franchise player deadline because of the yet-to-be-known 2021 salary cap figures.
A storyline to follow going forward: If the official salary cap number doesn’t come today and soon, NFL will have to move back the deadline to franchise tag players from Tuesday. It’s a situation several GMs are bracing for and would further stall business for a bit.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 8, 2021
Hopefully, we’ll have closure (at least, semi-closure) to this situation soon. Pace should use the franchise tag even if just to trade Robinson for draft capital or something more (like in a package for a quarterback).
If the tag isn’t used, Robinson is as good as gone, which would be a disappointing end to quality tenure for one of the Bears’ best offensive weapons in recent years.