Allen Robinson, Bears reportedly 'unlikely' to agree on extension before deadline

The deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term deals is rapidly approaching, with next Thursday July 15 being the cut-off.

There are seven tagged players left without contracts, and it sounds like it’s safe to say at least one of them won’t be getting one. The Bears and star receiver Allen Robinson have had “no substantive talks” in recent months, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. Pelissero added that it “seems unlikely a long-term deal will get done.”

Speaking a couple of weeks ago Robinson didn’t sound overly optimistic, saying “we’ll see” about the possibility of an agreement, so this isn’t too shocking. The two sides have been at a stalemate for most of the past year, outside of last September when it briefly looked like things were headed in the right direction. 

Things quickly soured again, and there were reports that Chicago might look to trade him this offseason. It appears he will play for the Bears in 2021, but without any long-term guarantees. The Penn State product did show up for last month’s mandatory minicamp, so he isn’t too disgruntled.

Perhaps the $17.9M he’s set to earn this season is keeping him from getting too negative. Robinson has been the lone bright spot on a struggling Bears offense the past couple seasons, and should put up big numbers once again whether it’s Justin Fields or Andy Dalton throwing him the ball. He had 102 catches for 1,250 yards and six touchdowns in 2020.