It’s been almost six months since the Chicago Bears and Allen Robinson have spoken in regards to a contract extension.
To no one’s surprise, Robinson is still frustrated. In a widely-read piece by Tyler Dunne just a few days ago, Robinson said that he had a lot of love for the city of Chicago. He has a lot of love for the team, fans and organization.
But, at this point, that love has to be reciprocated by the most important party involved: Ryan Pace.
Thus far, it has not been, nor does it look like it ever will. This is a situation which is nearly damaged beyond repair. Pace doesn’t appear ready to hand Robinson the money which everybody knows he deserves. So, what now?
The franchise tag?
That isn’t exactly the situation Robinson wants to be in. It’s not the ending he deserved to his three years in Chicago.
In a recent time spent on ESPN’s KJZ Show, highly-respected NFL reporter Jeff Darlington had some powerful words in regards to Robinson and the Bears.
“”I think this gets messy, and GM Ryan Pace has given no sense that he wants to give him the money that seemingly Robinson will deserve on the open market. So that one is the one that has the most potential for, I guess, drama and intrigue. Because I just can’t see Robinson playing under the tag this year.”
This is what it’s come to.
The Chicago Bears are one step away from having to replace a nearly-irreplaceable player in Allen Robinson.
The franchise tag is looked at as a last-ditch effort, and to some fans, it means the Bears will still have Robinson for one more year.
However, with a power shift over the past few years in professional sports, that may not be the case. The power is shifting to the players. They have gotten smarter. They have become more bold — as they should to some extent.
Robinson very well could tell the Bears he isn’t playing this season, thus they are stuck without their number one receiver, and they don’t even get anything in return for losing him. He’s not there, but he’s not gone, so to speak.
Pace has played this the absolute worst way possible. Instead of getting the contract done last fall as he should have, he got greedy and didn’t give Robinson what he felt he was worth. It’s that simple. Pace is cheap skating his way out of Chicago at this point, and Robinson’s situation will go down as just one more gigantic blunder performed by a head-scratching general manager.
Should the Bears miraculously work out a long-term deal with Robinson, then this all goes away, no doubt. But, with the way Darlington spoke, that doesn’t seem as though it’s an option. Robinson and the Bears are in for a messy conundrum, as if it hasn’t already gotten to that point.