The One Chicago Bear Who Most Deserves a New Deal
While the Chicago Bears begin prioritizing how to spend their salary cap money with their own free agents or others, they also have to set aside money for players they want to keep whose contracts expire after the 2020 season.
They need to extend a couple contracts even after extending Eddie Jackson's deal. It doesn't have to come immediately. More likely it would be just before the regular season or even later in the regular season, but they have to make sure the cash is set aside for this
The obvious player on this list is wide receiver Allen Robinson, who led the Bears with 98 receptions for 1,147 yards last season.
Robinson is one of the few Bears who improved his performance over the 2018 season, making 43 more receptions for 407 more yards and three more touchdowns than during the season when the Bears won the division.
While Robinson is deserving of a contract extension, he has been paid well the past two seasons. There's someone else on the team greatly underpaid who deserves a contract extension even more.
It's no reflection on Robinson, who was the Bears MVP as he was finally completely recovered from an ACL tear he suffered in 2017 with Jacksonville.
The player who should get a contract extension is Tarik Cohen, and it's not necessarily based on last year's performance.
Instead, it's a case of past performance, supply and demand—or shortage and demand.
Cohen's contract expires after the 2020 season and there is no player who made more big plays for the Bears over the course of the last three seasons than he did.
It might seem wasteful to devote money to someone who had a drop from 10.2 yards per reception to 5.8 yards last season, someone whose yards after catch per reception declined from 7.3 to 5.4.
Those declines were through no fault of Cohen's, and even while his numbers are generally down overall, he had a career high in receptions with 79.
Cohen's yards after catch might be down, but the number of yards the ball traveled before he caught it declined sharply as well. In other words, his problem is play design and the quarterback. Passes to Cohen in 2018 traveled 205 yards through the air, averaging 2.9 yards per toss. Last year, passes to Cohen went only 27 yards for the entire year. That means throws to him averaged less than a yard in the air, actually way less—0.3 yards.
Trubisky and the offensive scheme didn't give Cohen the chance to work his magic.
Another part of the problem in this regard was the lack of Trey Burton on the field. Without Burton attracting attention in the middle of the field, there was always someone home on defense to address the threat Cohen posed. Burton actually stretched the defense because he has good speed for a tight end. It left wide open spaces more often for Cohen to exploit.
Cohen deserves the contract extension based on the one talent he provides that the Bears otherwise lack. It's his speed.
This isn't a plodding group of wide receivers but with Taylor Gabriel's career clouded at best, Cohen is easily their fastest and most explosive threat. Speed isn't Anthony Miller's greatest asset. Neither Javon Wims nor Riley Ridley can be considered burners. They're good route runners and athletic. Robinson's strength is athleticism, not his ability to get downfield with his speed.
Cohen is the only receiver they know they'll have in 2020 who actually poses a threat to defenses with his open-field speed and cutting. It could change in the draft, but hasn't yet. Take Cohen away from this receiver corps, and assuming Gabriel leaves, then it's an average to below-average group speed-wise.
Cohen has something the Bears have a shortage of, and should be rewarded for it.
Sure, Cordarrelle Patterson might even be faster. But Patterson hasn't even shown he can be an integral part of any NFL offense let alone the Bears'. And his contract expires after this season, as well.
While they're at it, the Bears also must address the problem of trying to put Cohen in position to best use this speed, and for Trubisky to get him the ball in better places. But that's an issue for another day and not for the bean counters.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
