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Allen Robinson Has Company in Tagsville

One other receiver and six players in all will play under the tag in 2021, and the last decade suggests receivers rarely get tagged two straight years.
Gene Chamberlain|
Allen Robinson Has Company in Tagsville
Allen Robinson Has Company in Tagsville

At least Allen Robinson wasn't alone.

Considering the reduced salary cap and normal negotiating failures, there figured to be more players joining Allen Robinson in playing under the shadow of the franchise tag this season.

There were five more players who went through with tags and no new contracts by the July 15 deadline, according to SI.com.

One of them was another wide receiver. 

Tampa Bay's Chris Godwin went without a deal and is playing with a tag just like Robinson but for $15.9 million. Robinson is getting $17.9 million because the CBA rule regarding franchised receivers in 2021 calls for $15.9 million or 120% of the previous year's salary, whichever is highest.

The other tags went to Jaguars tackle Cam Robinson, Saints safety Marcus Williams, Washington guard Brandon Scherff and Jets safety Marcus Maye.

Chris Emma of WSCR-AM 670 reported Robinson wanted $20 million and the Bears never budged off of $16 million, although they are paying him the $17.9 million for this franchise tag.

So now Robinson will wait until next year to see if he is going to receive a second consecutive tag or get a contract before free agency of 2022 to come back to the Bears. The other option would be for the team to trade him if they found a trade partner willing to take on a big contract.

The trends say the Bears won't tag Robinson again. He will either get a contract or leave for another team. Of those fates, most receivers in the last decade have gone to other teams.

The Bears haven't tagged anyone in consecutive years but it is allowable for two years and one of the players playing under the tag this year will be doing it for the second straight year. Scherff was tagged last year by Washington, as well. After this year Washington cannot tag him.

Robinson and Godwin are among only 10 wide receivers tagged in the last decade according to the website Playerprofiler.com.

The others were: The Patriots' Wes Welker (2012), Kansas City's Dwayne Bowe (2012), Philadelphia's DeSean Jackson (2012), Denver's Demariyius Thomas (2015), Dallas' Dez Bryant (2015), Alshon Jeffery of the Bears (2016), Miami's Jarvis Landry (2018) and Cincinnati's A.J. Green (2020).

If the Bears did sign Robinson next March before free agency, they would be going against the trend. Only one of those 10 receivers returned the next season and got a contract with his team prior to tags and free agency, according to Overthecap.com. That was Kansas City's Bowe. He played for the Chiefs through 2014.

Of course, the Bears didn't tag Jeffery again in 2017 and let him sign with the Eagles. Then he came back to hurt them with a touchdown catch in the 2018 playoff game decided on Cody Parkey's double doink.

Two receivers were tagged in consecutive years during the last 10 years but none of the receivers tagged twice ever played under a tag for the second year. Bryant and Thomas were the only ones tagged a second time, but before they signed the tender they were given new contracts by their teams.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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