For Bears fans hoping Ryan Pace and Allen Robinson’s camp can work out a new contract before the 2021 season, a new report makes that seem unlikely.
This doesn’t preclude the Bears from bringing Robinson back in 2021. Pace could opt to place the franchise tag on the star wide receiver, keeping him under team control for one more season. In fact, in the team’s end of year press conference Pace indicated that the franchise tag may be an option to keep Robinson in Halas Hall next season.
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"You know how we feel about Allen, how respected he is in the building,” Pace said. “But to get into specifics on his contract, you guys also know I’m not going to get into that. In regard to the franchise tag, I would just say everything is on the table. 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. I just think those are best handled in a private manner."
There is a chance that Robinson could hold out and demand to be traded if he’s tagged by the team. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet. The window for teams to apply tags opens on Feb. 23 and runs through March 9. After that, free agency officially begins on March 17.
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