Buried at today’s disastrous press conference, GM Ryan Pace of the Bears spoke briefly about how things are with Allen Robinson. The wide receiver contract is set to expire when the league year ends, and conversations about an extension, you must remember, have not gone well. Speaking to the media about his contract status while cleaning the Bears locker room, Robinson not only “begged for the fifth” when asked about the possibility of having the franchise brand placed on him, but he was sincere about his disappointment at not still be able to do something.
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“I don’t know how it will affect it or not,” said Robinson of his relationship with the team. “But at the same time, from my point of view, personally, I feel that we have had the opportunity to do something in the last 365 days. But, again, I don’t know if it really affects me as much as it does, however.”
The assumption was that the two sides had not talked much since the start of the season, especially when Robinson said he was turning his attention to the regular season. When asked where the conversations were, Pace told a slightly different story.
“Those are all the things that we have to sort out and I think about the list of things that we need to talk about this off-season, obviously it’s a big decision and a big part of it,” he said on Wednesday. “You know how we feel about Allen, how he is respected in the building. But to go into details about his contract, you also know that I am not going to go into it. Regarding the franchise brand, I just say that everything is about The league gives us tools for a reason, but now we’re just going to keep all these internal conversations out of respect for Allen, out of respect for his agent. I just think it’s best to deal with it in a private way. ”
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What this means? Nothing! Is there anything to be discovered with Pace’s response? Probably not! It’s not my intention to kick while you’re down, but it certainly doesn’t look like Allen Robinson’s future is in Chicago. But the culture remains as strong as ever!