Eventually Allen Robinson Has No Choice
The shifting of attention from the Bears to new free agency issues apparently left Allen Robinson feeling unattended.
The franchise-tagged free agent receiver has let it be known he hasn't signed the franchise tag tender and has no plans to do so soon. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN said, "Allen Robinson, I'm told, has zero plans to sign his franchise tag in the immediate future. So considering their contract negotiations in the fall did not go well, this could drag out a long while where Robinson doesn't show up, doesn't sign that tag."
The key word here being "immediate future."
Saying you're not signing the franchise tender is like saying you haven't paid your taxes.
You will.
Eventually Robinson has to sign the $17.9 million franchise tender and the Bears most likely will try to get him a new long-term contract. They have until July 15 to sign him to a long-term deal or Robinson would have to play this season on the franchise tender or sit out without pay.
If he never signs it, he can wind up like former Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell and miss a season. Missing a season does not benefit a player and costs them millions. And even Bell didn't sit out a season after being tagged for the first time. It was the second tag which enraged him.
Bell sat out 2018 after playing on a $12.12 million tag in 2017, didn't get paid, then returned to the NFL with the Jets for $14.96 million in 2019 and never recouped the money he would have received in 2018 playing either on a tag or with a lower contract offer than he wanted. After one season with the Jets, they cut him in October of 2020 and he caught on with the Chiefs on a $705,882 contract.
What's more likely to happen is Robinson would merely stay away from Halas Hall through conditioning in April, then organized team activities and minicamp.
It's highly unlikely it would ever come to him sitting out games in the regular season as the Bears would attempt to get him a deal once they know how much they're spending on a quarterback and the cap situation.
Robinson has to continue the rhetoric, though. Players believe the tag unfairly restricts them and they're right.
While it is restrictive, they signed the CBA.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
