Retooling of Bears Begins with Lingering 2020 Issue

The mistake Ryan Pace made by not getting wide receiver Allen Robinson a new contract last year threatens to hold up their entire offseason restructuring plan.

If the Bears have Robinson back, they have the primary target required to team with who they decide should join Nick Foles and a rookie at quarterback, whether it's Mitchell Trubisky, another veteran or both.

If the ultimate fate is Robinson leaving, then their draft needs to focus first on finding a wide receiver over many other positions.

They likely are picking too far back at 20th in Round 1 to come up with one of the best first-round quarterback talents, but will draft in an area where they could definitely find a wide receiver to become the replacement for Robinson.

They could also be drafting in an area where they can find the elusive dominant offensive tackle. However, they can't pursue this need if they're going to hit the draft after free agency with a gaping hole at their "X" receiver spot.

So solving Robinson's status is primary building block No. 1 for the offseason.

"Those are all things that we gotta work through and I think about the list of things we need to talk about this offseason, obviously that's a big decision and a big part of it," GM Ryan Pace said. "You know how we feel about Allen, how respected he is in the building."

The Bears have to consider tagging Robinson to ensure they have a chance to retain him while fighting through the offseason mess caused by the pandemic's influence on league revenues and ultimately the salary cap.

"The league gives us tools for a reason but right now we're just going to keep all those talks internal out of respect to Allen, out of respect to his agent," Pace said.

Tags can be applied on Feb. 23.

There are short-term solutions outside of the draft if the decision is to let Robinson leave. The free-agent class of receivers as a whole is deep but that depends on who decides to let receivers dangle the way the Bears have with Robinson.

Free agents like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chris Godwin and Kenny Gollady are in much the same situation as Robinson in terms of being wanted by their teams and facing possible tags. If the Bears had the money to sign one of those players, they should just go ahead and sign Robinson.

Robinson's league-high 44 contested catches places him above all others in the market. He had 54 catches going for 15 yards or longer, the fourth-most explosive plays in the league according to Pro Football Focus. And all of this with a sad mix of quarterbacks getting him the ball.

Kansas City's Sammy Watkins, Tennessee's Corey Davis or veterans such as T.Y. Hilton and Marvin Jones are scheduled for free agency and would be a cut below in terms of cost. They could be possible bridge solutions until a draft pick would develop.

None rank on a level with Robinson, who has done much to earn admiration around the league though not enough apparently to win Pro Bowl status or be a 2020 priority for the Bears.

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