Getty WR Allen Robinson
Is Allen Robinson ready to be done in Chicago? After the Bears placed the franchise tag on him Tuesday, the 27-year-old wide receiver let it be known how he felt about the situation on Twitter — and spoiler alert, it’s not great.
In one of the more prominent storylines with the team last season, Robinson and his agent Brandon Parker expressed frustration with how long it was taking Chicago to extend the play-making wideout. After establishing himself as one of the best players on the entire team over the last three seasons — if not the best — Robinson feels as though his performance in Chicago warrants a paycheck comparable to what some of the top wideouts in the league make — and he’s not wrong.
Per PFF, Robinson’s 150 targets in 2020 ranked 3rd in the NFL, and his 102 catches ranked 4th. He was 8th in the league in receiving yards with 1,250, and his 88.5 receiving grade was 5th among all wide receivers. Bottom line: He has performed this well day in and day out for the last three seasons, and the man just wants to get paid.
Thus, after being tagged on Tuesday, Robinson took to Twitter to express himself.
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Robinson: ‘I Think I Can Get a Long Term Deal on 31 Other Teams’
After ‘liking’ several Tweets that note how badly the franchise tag “sucks,” Robinson shared a clip from his appearance on Cris Collinsworth’s podcast in which he shared exactly how he feels about the situation he’s in with the Bears:
When you talk about, you know, a one-year deal or whatever, the case may be something that you’re kind of forced into as a player. You know, when you coming off 3,000 yards in three seasons when you helped take a team to the playoffs two out of years, it’s like you do feel deserving of the long term, no matter where that would be. I think that’s what kind of makes the franchise tag so tough is not the fact that, I mean, I think I can get a long term deal probably on 31 other teams, caps and the players they have and stuff like that, but as a player, that should be up to your discretion.
“I think I could get a long term deal on 31 other teams.”
Here are a few of the Tweets A-Rob ‘liked:’
Biggest winner today in the NFL: Kenny Golladay. #Freedom
The franchise tag sucks!
It should be no more franchise tags .. maybe just the transition tags where other teams can still offer you what they see your value to be and they either have to match that offer or let you sign that deal..
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Could Robinson Protest Tag & Not Play?
Would A-Rob push back if Ryan Pace and the Bears don’t give him the financial security he wants and deserves by mid-July? The wide receiver has to be thinking about the last time he was at the end of a contract year. While with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017, he tore his ACL in the opening game of the season. His recovery has been incredibly impressive — but in a league where a player’s corporal well-being is directly connected to his financial security, few can blame Robinson.
This is what he told Ty Dunne in an interview with Go Long just a few weeks back about why he wanted the security of a long term deal:
It would be like if I told somebody, ‘You are qualified for this job. And this is what the other people at that job are making. But you can’t make that. Nobody in America would even do that. You see people go from job to job on an everyday basis in America. They get a job, they fill out another resume because, now, they have the experience. They go from company to company to company, at the same time, increasing their salaries. But for players, when you get in that situation where you’re even up for a contract, it’s almost a lose-lose between the fans and — for a lot of players, not just myself — even the organization and teammates. The narrative of the story is so muddied up for no reason at all, when players just want what their value is.
If the Bears don’t hammer out a long-term deal with Robinson, it’s going to be an interesting — and potentially contentious — several months. Bears insider Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune said he expects Robinson to sit out of all team activities until he sees the Brinks truck pull up.
“Like most players who are prevented from reaching the open market by the tag, he’s not thrilled,” Biggs said in his Wednesday column. “Robinson can skip all team activities, including the offseason program, OTAs and mandatory minicamp, without the threat of a fine if he does not sign the one-year offer sheet, which is fully guaranteed once he puts his signature on it. My hunch is that Robinson will opt to go that route. I don’t think the Bears will see him anytime soon. If he’s adamant about not wanting the tag, why give in at this point? The situation is obviously fluid, but I’d be surprised if there was a breakthrough or major development anytime soon.”
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