CHICAGO – The Bears put the franchise’s brand on veteran wide receiver Allen Robinson, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
The Bears and Robinson agent was unable to agree on a long-term deal over the past season, forcing Chicago to apply the label or risk losing Robinson – the club’s biggest recipient in the past three years – at liberty.
Brandon Parker, Robinson’s agent, told Schefter in September that Robinson was dissatisfied that the Bears had refused to offer him first-rate money through a wide receiver, but that neither Robinson nor Parker had requested a negotiation before the last year’s NFL trading deadline.
“We have a history of expanding our players,” said Bears general manager Ryan Pace last week. “We usually find a way to make this work. The proof is kind of in the pudding with it. And each of them is different. Each of them is personal, which is why I am sensitive, and I hope you understand, about talking about this in the media.
“But it is a process. It takes both sides to work this out, and each is unique. I like to trust our story. I think [director of football administration] Joey Laine does a great job working on it and building relationships with these agents. Allen has a very good agent with whom we have worked in the past, and it is a process. We’re kind of going through this. “
Robinson, 27, achieved a record 102 passes for 1,250 yards in 2020, even as the Bears attack struggled to find their rhythm until a three-game winning streak at the end of the season allowed Chicago to make the playoffs 8-8 .
In 2019, Robinson also led the Bears with 98 receptions for 1,147 yards and seven touchdowns. Robinson spent four years in Jacksonville (2014 to 2017), where he won an invitation to the Pro Bowl after receiving 80 passes for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2015.
Robinson suffered a knee injury at the end of the season in week 1 of 2017, his last year in Jacksonville, and was not entirely healthy for the Bears in 2018. Still, he recorded 55 receptions for 754 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games.
“I know that Allen wants to be a Chicago bear [long-term] and we want him to be a Chicago bear, and it’s a sensitive process that we’re kind of in the middle of, “said Pace.” And we have to work with that. “